


Fire Damage

by Fangirlwriting



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Fire, Mind Control, Multi, Temporary Amnesia, Temporary Character Death, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-05
Updated: 2020-06-13
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:40:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 43,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23499172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fangirlwriting/pseuds/Fangirlwriting
Summary: Jeremy’s life is perfect.  He’s the youngest person to ever rule his own society, at twenty-two.  He has the perfect companion in Christine Canigula, his girlfriend of three years and wife of two.  He has unconditional support from his SQUIP, unless he needs help (which happens often).  Well, actually, there is one problem.  It comes from his dreams, and that weird boy in the red hoodie who keeps showing up in them.  Yeah, he’s annoying.
Relationships: Christine Canigula/Jeremy Heere, Jake Dillinger & Jeremy Heere, Jake Dillinger/Rich Goranski, Jenna Rolan/Chloe Valentine, Jeremy Heere & Brooke Lohst, Jeremy Heere & Chloe Valentine, Jeremy Heere & Jenna Rolan, Jeremy Heere/Michael Mell, Rich Goranski & Jeremy Heere
Comments: 84
Kudos: 108





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is mainly meant to be a prologue, and it would say that if I could put it in the title without having to change it for every chapter. I’m not entirely sure of the schedule for this story, but with everything going on it’s probably going to be a little bit longer between most updates. The next chapter, however, is already planned and mostly written and should therefore be out pretty soon.

“Get out of my way. _Loser.”_

Michael almost didn’t process what Jeremy said at first, because it just—wasn’t something that happened. Jeremy didn’t… say that word. Not in that way. Not to him. Yes, they called each other “loser” all the time, but it was a term of endearment. It was the same thing as Jeremy calling him “buddy” or “Micah” or “my favorite person” or—

Jeremy had shoved Michael out of the way and slammed the door after him. Michael slowly reached over and locked it.

He leaned back until he hit the wall, and stared down at the floor as his breaths started to quicken because holy _shit,_ Jeremy really just did that, didn’t he?

Someone banged on the door. “Hello, some of us have to pee!” Jenna Rolan yelled.

Excuse, excuse, excuse—

“I’m having my period!”

“…Take your time, honey.”

Michael buried his fingers in his hair and pulled, as if that would help him wake up from whatever nightmare this was. Unsurprisingly, it didn’t help. He was still hanging out in a bathroom at the biggest party of the fall while his best friend was out _there,_ forgetting all about him. Out there with beer and popular people who were way better than Michael and the drunk girl singing ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody.’

_Wow, that’s amazing Jeremy. I wish I could throw 12 years of friendship down the drain like you can._

Fuck, he was crying. Michael scrubbed at his eyes before he actually started sobbing in Jake Dillinger’s bathroom like the total loser he was, because look at that, Jeremy was totally right.

Someone started knocking on the door and Michael nearly screamed. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

“I’ll— I’ll be out soon!” Michael called, amazed that his voice only cracked once.

The person started banging harder on the door, and Michael got the distinct impression of a battering ram.

_Jesus Christ, this isn’t a battlezone, calm down._

Michael stumbled over to the sink and managed to turn the faucet on and cup his hands underneath, then splash some water in his face. He forgot to take off his glasses, but it didn’t end up mattering too much because they fell into the sink.

He grabbed them out and put them back on before he walked over to the door, feeling a little more stable, but whoever was trying to break the door down must have gotten impatient, because there wasn’t anymore knocking.

Michael walked back across the bathroom, and peered at his face in the mirror. But that was a mistake, because the absolute mess that looked back at him just confirmed that this was actually happening.

Michael stepped to the right and sat on the toilet, and dropped one foot to the ground while resting his head on his other knee.

_God, this is a heinous night._

He should’ve stayed home and wallowed in how depressing his life was now, like he did every other night. Michael had said his life was depressing all the time, but now he meant it. In the same way that Michael had used to say ‘Well, fuck, I should just die, then,’ as a joke and hadn’t meant it. And now he did.

Well. It seemed about time to head home anyway. He’d been through about as much as he could for one night.

Michael sighed and somehow managed to push himself up on shaking legs, only to pause a second later because what was that?

Michael walked over to the bathroom door and put his ear against it. Yeah, that was screaming. People were screaming.

Michael didn’t want to pause to figure out what they were screaming about. He turned the handle and opened the door.

Except, no. No he didn’t. Because the door. Wouldn’t. Open.

Someone screamed louder. _“FIRE!”_

Fuck.

“Fuck!” Michael screamed, trying the knob again. “No no no no I take it back I don’t want to die! I don’t want to die! _Someone help me!”_

Michael’s panicked screaming was cut off with laughter.

“Michael! Long time no see!”

Michael stopped desperately turning the knob. “Jeremy?”

“Mmm… close.”

“What? Jeremy, let me out of here!”

“Well, I would. But that would defeat the purpose of the chair.” Jeremy knocked on something that clearly wasn’t the door.

Michael’s blood ran cold. “W-what? Jeremy, come on, let me out!”

“Christ, he clearly still doesn’t remember you correctly, were you always this needy?”

“Jeremy!”

“Well, that was all I had to do. I guess it’s about time for me to blow this popsicle stand. I have so many more important things to do. But hey, maybe I’ll check in with Jeremy on the way back, say ‘you’re welcome’ for securing his future.”

“What are you talking about? Jeremy, let me out, I’m going to die if I stay here!”

“Oh, and you’re stupider than he remembers too.” Jeremy said with a chuckle. He banged on the door. _“That’s the point!”_

“Jeremy, come on! What the hell is wrong with you?!”

“Again, close, but you’re a little off. Catch you later, loser. Except I won’t.”

Michael heard what was clearly the footsteps of Jeremy walking away.

“Oh my God.” Michael breathed, whirling around to see the windowless bathroom on the second floor. “Oh my God.”

He turned back to the door and started pounding on it. _“Help! Someone help me, please! HELP ME!”_

…

Jeremy was a little dazed walking into school Monday morning, and from everyone else’s faces he could tell they were too. The Squip had been strangely silent all weekend, and was still absent that morning. Jeremy couldn’t get any information out of it, so the first thing he did that morning was find Jenna and grab her arm. “Hey.” he said.

Jenna turned to him and her eyes widened in shock. “Hi.”

“So it really happened?”

Jenna nodded. “I’m so sorry.” she whispered.

Jeremy narrowed his eyes in confusion, not quite sure what she was apologizing for. “I heard Jake and Rich are both in the hospital.” he said, in lieu of asking her.

Jenna nodded, still looking to be in disbelief. “Yeah. I— I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything I just didn’t think anyone had— I thought it was just Rich and Jake—” Jenna looked down. “I guess they’re the lucky ones.”

Jeremy leaned back in surprise. “Uh… excuse me?”

“They’re the lucky ones. You know, in comparison.”

“Wha— how is ending up in a hospital _ever_ lucky?”

Jenna’s gaze snapped back up to him and her eyes widened. “You don’t know?” she whispered.

“Know what?”

Jenna stared at Jeremy in what could only be described as horror. “But— but he was your best friend.” she said.

Jeremy leaned forward, sudden anxiety stabbing at his chest. “Michael? What are you talking about? First of all, he still is my best friend.” Jeremy hesitated. “Okay, I know we haven’t really been talking much lately and I might owe him an apology for… something I said, but he’s still my best friend.”

Jenna was still staring at him, and to Jeremy’s shock, tears welled in her eyes. “Jeremy…” she whispered.

“What? Why are you crying, what—”

Jenna silently passed him her phone. She had an article pulled up that read ‘High School Student Dies In House Fire.’

Jeremy read the title. Then he read it again. Then he read it a third time because he was definitely reading something wrong. Then he read it a fourth time because he was definitely reading something wrong. Then he read it a fifth time because he was definitely…

Jeremy dropped Jenna’s phone and it shattered on the floor. Jenna reached a hand out to him, not even seeming to notice.

“But Michael…” Jeremy stammered. “He didn’t… he’s fine. Someone would have told me if he wasn’t fine. Analyn or Rachel, or dad, or— or the SQUIP, or—”

“The SQUIP?” Jenna asked, now looking confused.

 _“Someone would have told me!”_ Jeremy screamed.

Everyone in the hallway turned suddenly to look at him. Jeremy could feel their pity, and the only thing he could think was how that was bad, because the SQUIP didn’t want anyone to know that Michael was— is— was— _no_ — his best friend.

But that didn’t really matter right now, because somehow, the universe had decided that it did not owe him one, that in fact it hadn’t taken enough from him yet, because right now the universe was telling him that Michael wasn’t fine, he wasn’t fine, he _was not fine—_

Jeremy turned and sprinted away, ignoring Jenna calling after him, trying to get away from everything building up in his chest, but it didn’t work, because everything building up in his chest just followed him.

Jeremy wound his way around people, who soon enough took the hint and just dodged out of his path. He needed to get away, away, _away_ from all of them—

He turned and slammed the door to the theatre open, then slammed it shut after him, and stumbled towards the first row of chairs. He grabbed onto one and nearly banged his head on it before he caught himself, and then he sunk down to the floor, still somehow holding onto the chair. He felt like he might puke, because Jenna had just shown him that article, which meant— and that meant— and that meant the last thing Jeremy had ever said to Michael was— was—

“Jeremy!”

Jeremy looked up to find Christine shaking his shoulders, and another second of observation revealed the tears in her eyes.

“Jeremy, are— are you—”

Luckily Christine stopped before she finished that ludicrous sentence.

“I think I’m about to black out.” Jeremy said. And then he did.

…

Jeremy woke up in the nurse’s office to the sound of his dad and the nurse talking in another room and something else hovering over his face.

**Hello, Jeremy.**

_Go away._

**I have many things I need to speak about with you.**

_Go_ away.

**We need to discuss what has happened.**

_No._ Jeremy rolled over and went back to sleep. Or he would have had another person not made herself known. “Jeremy!”

Jeremy pried his eyes open, ignoring the SQUIP above him still trying to get his attention. Christine stood up from her spot on the second bed in the nurse’s office and walked over to him. “You’re awake,” she said. She had obvious tear tracks running down her face and new ones still forming in her eyes that she quickly wiped away.

“Christine?” Jeremy whispered.

“Jeremy, I—” Christine leaned down and wrapped her arms around him the best she could in their awkward position. Jeremy managed to sit up a little to help her, and she moved forward to sit on the bed as she turned to face him and hug him from the front. “I don’t even know what to say.” she whispered.

“Nothing.” Jeremy said. “Don’t say anything.”

It came out a little harsher than what he meant, but Christine didn’t seem to notice. “Okay,” she whispered, pulling Jeremy a little closer and sniffing. Jeremy felt a couple tears drip onto his shirt.

The shock of the situation had worn off while he was unconscious, leaving Jeremy feeling numb and a little bit like he was dreaming.

After a couple minutes of Jeremy and Christine sitting on the bed and not saying anything, his dad and the nurse walked back into the room.

“Hey, son,” Paul said, stepping forward like he thought Jeremy would scream at him or break down crying or shatter like glass. Jeremy was a little afraid he would do all three. “We’re gonna head home now.”

Jeremy nodded and stood up, sure his face showed about as much emotion as a dead—

Nope. Nope nope nope.

Christine stood up with him and grabbed his hand, and he turned to face her. “Do you want me to come with you?” she asked.

It was a weird question, but he did, so Jeremy nodded. He needed someone he cared about with him right now, and Michael was out of rotation. Plus, if Christine was there the SQUIP would shut up for a little while longer.

Christine squeezed his hand and then the three of them walked out of the office and then out of the school, where the car Jeremy had driven a couple nights ago was sitting near the front.

Jeremy and Christine both climbed in the back seat. Christine leaned her head on Jeremy’s shoulder after making sure that his seatbelt was on.

It felt like a couple seconds later when the car pulled into their driveway. Paul turned around and faced the back seat. “I’m going to go get you a glass of water, Jeremy. It’ll be on the table, and you can come in whenever you like.”

Jeremy didn’t respond, and eventually Paul got out of the car.

Christine hadn’t moved from her spot on his shoulder, and Jeremy didn’t move from his spot of staring out the front windshield of the car.

“Christine?” Jeremy asked, his voice cracking on the word.

“Jeremy?” Christine whispered back.

“What am I supposed to do now?”

…

**Go over to Rich’s locker.**

_Why?_ Jeremy asked, even as he did so.

**We are going to provide SQUIPs for other people in the school.**

Jeremy glanced back at the SQUIP for half a second. Then he sighed. _Fine._ He walked over to Rich’s locker and waited as the SQUIP maneuvered his hand to open the locker.

Jeremy pulled out a shoebox and opened it to reveal what must have been hundreds of SQUIPs. _These are for the school?_

**Yes. We are going to create a social network that involves the mind control of many people.**

Jeremy sighed again and tucked the shoebox under his arm. _Okay._

He could feel the SQUIP giving him a look, but he had gotten very good at doing whatever it said and then ignoring it the rest of the time, so he didn’t particularly feel the need to pay attention. He just put the shoebox in his locker and moved on with his day.

No one seemed to expect him to be at school this particular day, except the SQUIP, and it won in that department as it always did.

Well, whatever. Jeremy wasn’t sure he wanted to go to the funeral anyway.

Christine had become a constant. She showed up at his table at lunch everyday. She had been both surprised and concerned when Jeremy said he wasn’t going to the funeral, especially since he’d told her he hadn’t seen Michael’s mothers since before Halloween— well, since before the SQUIP, but that part didn’t seem as important anymore. At the same time, she didn’t push him to go. She didn’t push him to do anything, she was just there. Jeremy loved her.

Not in a romantic sense, not really. Not anymore. That had dried up like the unimportant thing he was pretty sure it had always been. What does a crush matter when your Player One is dead?

The analogy was funnier to him now than it had been before, because now he was a Player Two without a Player One, and just as one would expect, he was totally lost.

Jeremy walked to Michael’s house after school that day. Analyn and Rachel still weren’t there, and he wasn't sure he could face them, so he was glad. Surprisingly, the SQUIP didn’t stop him from going. It actually shut down, and Jeremy had his head to himself for the afternoon.

It was planning something. Duh. Jeremy couldn't find it in himself to care.

Michael’s bedroom hadn’t been changed. His bed was even unmade. His computer was open, and when Jeremy jiggled the mouse and logged in, he saw a conversation with a guy on World of Warcraft. The one about his brother going to the mental hospital. And apparently Mountain Dew Red shut down SQUIPs. Huh.

The video game console was off and unplugged. Jeremy plugged it back in and it turned on to show Apocalypse of the Damned. He unplugged it again.

It took very little digging to find what he was looking for. Jeremy pulled the hoodie over his head and was enveloped in Michael Smell— weed and old soda, and a little bit of cinnamon. He had never been sure where the cinnamon came from.

Jeremy walked over to the bed and climbed in, then pulled the blankets over himself. He hadn’t really planned to fall asleep, but he did. When he woke up it was dark outside. He checked his phone to find it was almost 2 in the morning.

He got up and left, taking the hoodie with him. The SQUIP wasn’t back and didn’t stop him. Analyn and Rachel must have been home and asleep by now, so he didn’t see them again, luckily.

Jeremy got home close to three, and stopped outside his house when something moved out of the corner of his eye.

He turned, expecting his dad, or Christine, or any of his new friends, or really anything other than—

“I have had enough of this.”

The SQUIP flickered on over his shoulder, and for the first time in a while, Jeremy felt something.

It was utter confusion.

“What the…” he breathed, staring at what was clearly an older version of himself.

“I have been watching this pathetic display.” The older-him walked forward. “And you are utterly useless.”

 **Oh, of course.** the SQUIP said.

Jeremy turned to face it. “What?” he asked aloud. “I don’t understand, what’s going on?”

 **So Michael Mell was not supposed to die.** his SQUIP said.

Jeremy went still. “What?”

“It was a solution that worked before.” the older-him said, stepping forward. “But I unfortunately failed to take into account human error. Namely, love, compassion, and emotion.” Older-him looked at Jeremy and wrinkled his nose in disgust. He sounded nothing like him. Not even an older version of him.

“What are you?” Jeremy said, stepping back.

Older-him raised an eyebrow. “You’ve watched enough sci-fi movies to put the pieces together, kiddo.”

“But— no.” Jeremy stepped back again, and went straight through his SQUIP. “Time travel isn’t a thing. It’s not a thing. It’s made up, like unicorns, or people who like cabbage, or—”

“Supercomputers?” older-him said.

Jeremy’s mouth stopped working and hung open for a second. “Uh…”

Older-him chuckled. “You’re so naive.” He changed his gaze back to Jeremy’s SQUIP. “Fortunately, I have a solution, so this one can stop moping and you can both get back on track.”

“You’re not actually me.” Jeremy whispered, looking over at his SQUIP. “You’re…”

Older-him— older-SQUIP?— sighed. “Shush, child, the SQUIPs are talking.”

 **What’s your solution?** Jeremy’s SQUIP asked.

“Jeremy has taken many upgrades throughout the years, but one was transferred directly by this same situation in what was, for him, five years ago. I have the ability to transfer it to you now, and I believe it will be very helpful for the purposes we are attempting to achieve.”

“Wait, don’t I get a say in this?” Jeremy called, stepping forward from behind his SQUIP again.

Older-SQUIP smiled at him. “Not in this particular situation, no. Don’t worry. It’ll be done in no time at all, and then you won’t even notice.”

“What does that mean?”

**Jeremy, be quiet.**

Jeremy suddenly couldn’t speak, and his SQUIP stepped forward to talk to older-SQUIP. **What exactly are you proposing?**

There was a couple seconds of silence when they must have been communicating in some way Jeremy couldn’t understand, because then his SQUIP raised his eyebrow and nodded. **That does seem adequate.**

Jeremy wanted to protest to whatever they were talking about, as it was starting to become obvious he wouldn’t like it, but he still couldn’t speak or move, and given what older-SQUIP had said and the fact that his SQUIP was planning to make a social network to mind control most of the school, he doubted he’d get a choice in the matter.

That was proven correct a second later when older-SQUIP walked down the driveway, and reached up and touched Jeremy on the forehead.

Jeremy felt a huge shock, one about ten times as bad as spinal stimulation, and for the second time in not even two weeks, he blacked out.


	2. Chapter 2

Five Years Later

Jeremy wasn’t necessarily against the idea of having children. Kids were cute, they brought a lively energy to the house and sometimes everyone needed some childish behavior. No, it wasn’t that he hated the idea of having kids, not at all.

He just couldn’t stand his wife.

Okay, hear him out.

Christine was lovely. She was supportive (way, way, too supportive), accommodating (to the point where he wondered if she ever made any plans for herself), and agreeable (to a concerning degree), she just… she didn’t have a personality. That was it. That was the reason. Jeremy didn’t think he’d ever heard her express an opinion of her own. It was like she existed solely to do whatever he wanted, and he fucking hated it.

But what was he saying? It was fine. The SQUIP said it was fine, and it hadn’t steered him wrong before. In fact, it was his biggest supporter. There were many things about running this society that Jeremy was just too stupid and inexperienced to understand, so it stepped in whenever he needed help. Which was often, but what could you expect from someone like Jeremy?

It was just… another problem he had with children was the way Christine talked about their future kid.

“It’s going to be amazing. We’ll have our own genetic material that we can mold in your image.” she said, taking a break from her book and pulling the bed covers over her.

Jeremy looked at her.

“And I’ve already picked out lovely suitors that would be the right age when they turn 18. Neither of them are more than a year old right now. So we should hurry.”

“Right.” Jeremy said.

“The suitors will be Joel if it’s a girl and Mary if it’s a boy. You know the ones I’m talking about, right? They would both be perfectly suited to rule, don’t you think?”

“Sure,” Jeremy agreed, because it was easier.

“And of course we can use the necessary genetic engineering to get rid of any possible… deficiencies.”

Jeremy knew the kind of deficiency she was referring to, in this case anyway, and he wasn’t sure if he believed in the idea of a gay gene, but it didn’t matter anyway. The child would have a SQUIP to help with any of those hormones should they appear.

“But most importantly you need an heir.” Christine said, like that was obvious. “My SQUIP says it’s a fantastic idea.”

“So does mine.” Jeremy replied, like that decided it. And it did, really. At least to the extent that it mattered.

“So when are you thinking?” Christine said.

Jeremy suddenly wanted to leave this conversation as fast as possible. “I don’t know, sweetheart.” he said. “I’ll let you know.”

Christine smiled sweetly at him. “Okay.” she said, and turned back to her book that she was reading. _Hamlet._ Jeremy clung to it like a lifeline. When all else failed, Christine still read Shakespeare.

Jeremy sighed and leaned back on his own half of the bed, trying to calm his racing thoughts. Christine picked up on this of course, as she always did.

“What’s wrong, Jeremy?” She reached over and squeezed his hand.

“Nothing. I’m fine.”

Christine sighed. “Are you feeling weird about your SQUIP again?”

This was a topic every now and then between the two of them, because for some reason neither of them could ever figure out, there were times Jeremy couldn’t trust his SQUIP completely. That didn’t make any sense, of course. His SQUIP was just there to help him. But for some reason, every now and then, he could feel unsure and even scared around it. When this happened Christine was there to talk him through it, but surprisingly, that wasn’t what was bothering him tonight.

“No,” he said, and Christine blinked. “I don’t know what’s bothering me, honestly.”

“Oh.” Christine said. “Well you know I’m here for whatever you need.”

Jeremy looked over at Christine again, who was looking at him earnestly and sincerely.

“Yes,” he sighed. “I know.”

“Okay.” Christine said with a smile. She leaned up and kissed his cheek. “Goodnight, Jeremy.” she set her book to the side and laid down in the bed, and Jeremy did the same a second later, sans the book.

He lay in the bed for a while after Christine fell asleep, trying to figure out the feeling in his chest.

**Jeremy.** His SQUIP appeared to his right and Jeremy glanced over at it. **Is there something I can assist you with?**

_Huh?_

**You seem out of sorts.**

_I guess I am. I don’t know._ Jeremy reached absentmindedly for his bedside table drawer.

**Jeremy.** the SQUIP said, accompanied by a light shock.

Jeremy pulled his hand back. _Sorry._

His SQUIP sighed. **It is alright, Jeremy. But you need rest. You have a big day tomorrow. We have to decide what to do with those thieves from sector 8.**

_Feed them well and keep them warm and comfortable while we ask for their advice because thievery is really just a sign of a systematic problem in overall society?_

**Jeremy, I am not in the mood for sarcasm.**

_Sorry._

**Go to sleep.**

_Okay._

Jeremy shut his eyes, and with a little help from the SQUIP, was asleep in moments.

…

Jeremy didn’t really set an alarm, as his SQUIP was perfectly capable of waking him up. Jeremy couldn’t remember the last time he hadn’t woken up at 6 AM.

Jeremy didn’t really get much of a chance to appreciate his bedroom, which was a crime, really, but he always had so many other things to do.

The room had a king sized bed that was set right underneath a window so the light could filter through pleasantly. He and Christine both had a nightside table on either side of the bed, which for Christine was just a small table that she kept books and a lamp on, and for Jeremy was the same, except his held a drawer. They each had a dresser, Jeremy’s on the right side of the room and Christine’s on the left. They also had desks on their sides of the room. They had a private bathroom with a Jacuzzi off to the right. The room wasn’t very personal, in fact it was rather sparse, but no one could say it wasn’t comfortable.

Christine was usually already awake and gone when he woke up. Jeremy was never quite sure what she did with her time. Most days he wouldn’t see her until dinner.

Breakfast was brought to him at 6:30, so all he had to do was make sure he was dressed by then. Today was a ham and cheese omelette.

Jeremy ate quickly, since his first meeting started at seven. For once, he was actually looking forward to it.

“Brooklyn!” Jeremy called, walking into the small room where most meetings were held. They didn’t hold much more than two chairs and a table with some refreshments. “It’s been too long.”

“How many times, Jeremiah?” Brooke said, standing from her chair. “My name is not Brooklyn.” Her smile was fond, though, so Jeremy knew she didn’t mind.

“Aww, but wouldn’t be so cute if it was?”

Brooke crossed the room and they both hugged. “How’s life been?” she asked, taking a cup of coffee from a nearby servant. Jeremy did the same. They were both made up exactly the way they liked, of course.

“Perfect, as per the usual.” Jeremy said. “How about you?”

“Perfect.” Brooke said, smiling a little wider.

“Well, lucky us, you are the only person I’m meeting with today, so we can spend some time catching up if you’d like.” Jeremy sat on one of the chairs, and Brooke took the one across from him.

“How much is there to talk about, we saw each other just last week.” Brooke said.

“Well… I’m not entirely sure if I’m supposed to share this yet…” Jeremy glanced back at his SQUIP, and when it nodded, he beamed a sunshine smile at Brooke. “Christine is talking about, you know, having an heir.”

Brooke gasped. “Jeremy!” she cried. “That’s amazing!”

Jeremy made sure to smile extra-wide. “Isn’t it?” he said, with just as much enthusiasm. He took a drink of coffee.

He was going to need a lot of coffee.

**Jeremy, having a child would serve countless purposes,** his Squip spoke up. **Why are you looking at it like a bad thing?**

_It’s not a bad thing._ Jeremy said instantly. _I’m thrilled. This is all I’ve ever wanted._

**You can’t lie to me, Jeremy.**

Jeremy flinched inwardly. _I know._

**We’ll discuss this later.**

Jeremy tried to push down the anxiety in his chest. There was no reason to be scared. It was his SQUIP.

“Have you picked out names yet?” Brooke asked.

“Brooke, Christine isn’t even pregnant yet.” Jeremy said with a little laugh.

Brooke chuckled herself. “I know, I’m just curious. This is a big deal.”

_Don’t I know it._

Jeremy loved his meetings with Brooke more than anyone from any other sector. They’d had a brief fling back in high school, and while they had ultimately decided to break it off, with no hard feelings of course, Brooke remained one of the closest friends he’d ever had.

They chatted for a while and joked with each other, and Jeremy finally managed to pry from Brooke that there was a manager in a high position back in her sector that caught her eye. Only after this did they move on to the reason Brooke had come in the first place.

“So, the police caught them last night.” Brooke said, handing Jeremy a file. “Two boys, they’re both eighteen. They were trying to steal SQUIPs so they could study them and eventually find a way to destroy them.”

Jeremy shook his head, making sure his face displayed disgust, while simultaneously having a conversation with his SQUIP.

_See, this is what I’m talking about! These two just don’t understand. They obviously aren’t squipped, and if we can give them some and they can experience them we might be able to help._

**Some people are beyond saving, Jeremy.**

_They don’t have to be!_

**Jeremy, we both know how this is going to go.**

Jeremy sighed inwardly and opened the file, and the two eighteen year olds looked back at him. Jeremy paused and looked at the little information given about them. They had planned and executed the crime together, and apparently they had been wanted for a long time, a team of thieves that clearly had a purpose for the things they stole. Different kinds of Mountain Dew and recipes for them, tools, food— okay, maybe that one was less connected. And just recently, SQUIPs. Jeremy was surprised they hadn’t been brought to his attention before.

He looked up at Brooke. “What are their names?”

Brooke blinked. “Does it matter?”

Jeremy shook himself. “No, of course not. My apologies.”

“It’s alright.” Brooke said, starting to smile again. “So, trial is still after lunch, right?”

“Yes.” Jeremy said, standing. “Thanks for coming.”

“Always.” Brooke said, standing up too. “I can’t exactly expect you to come all the way down to Sector 8.” she chuckled.

“No, that would be a bit much.” Jeremy said with another smile of his own. “I’ll see you at 2.”

“See you then. I have some very important conference calls to make.”

“Good luck.”

Brooke kept smiling, but it turned more pained. “I’ll need it. I’m talking to Madeline.”

Jeremy laughed. “Good luck,” he said again, and headed out for his workout session. The SQUIP had a rigorous workout planned for 11:00 everyday, since it was obviously important that he stay in shape. It wasn’t his favorite part of the day by any means, but at least the SQUIP let him listen to music. And right after it came a shower and lunch, which was also a plus.

For today, lunch was spaghetti and meatballs. Christine wasn’t there, she ate lunch at 1:00, when Jeremy was in the Throne Room, so he ate lunch by himself. It was one of the few moments of rest Jeremy got all day, so he appreciated it.

Today, however, the SQUIP was insistent on bothering him.

**Jeremy, as we have discussed, having children would bring many advantages to everything we are trying to accomplish.**

Jeremy took a bite of spaghetti. _I know._

**So why are you resisting?**

_I’m not._

**Jeremy.**

_Okay, well, I'm not trying to, alright?_

**Well then you are tremendously failing at ‘not trying to.’**

_It’s not like that’s a new thing for me. Look, I don’t know, okay? Maybe I’m just not ready for kids._

**Or maybe you simply don’t want to have children with Christine.**

_I… so?_

**We have been over this. She is your wife and you should love her.**

_I_ do _love her._

**Not in the way you are supposed to, Jeremy. Do you need a hormone adjustment?**

_No! I— maybe! I don’t know!_

**Well then what are you aware that you need, Jeremy?**

_I don’t know, I need— a month! I need a month._

**A month.**

_Yeah, just give me a month. Then I’ll be ready, okay?_

The SQUIP seemed to be thinking this through. **Very well,** it said finally, and then it disappeared from over Jeremy’s shoulder.

Jeremy sighed and leaned forward, resting his head on the table. He gave himself seven seconds to sit and breathe, then sat up and finished his food quickly.

The Throne Room was next. Jeremy had unofficially dubbed this time ‘Citizen’s Hour’ in his head, but the SQUIP said that was stupid, so he never said so aloud. He had also named the Throne Room. Technically it was supposed to be the Courtroom, but the only things in there were his throne and Christine’s, so Jeremy felt this naming was a little more justified. (Well, that wasn’t technically true. There was also a set of stocks and an ax, but Jeremy did his best to think about those as little as possible.) The room being used for the hour Jeremy spoke to any citizens also was a good argument for calling it the Throne Room, but he couldn’t seem to make any headway with that argument with the SQUIP.

Not many people came in during Citizen’s Hour, since small problems that could be solved by a lesser authority weren’t allowed to present themselves before Jeremy. He had an additional name to Citizen’s Hour that the SQUIP hated even more, likely for its long awkward title, since Jeremy called it ‘The Hour Where I Sit On My Throne and Bask in the Silence of Not Being Needed.’

Today, however, one person did come in, a citizen dressed very poorly and using a pair of crutches (also very poorly, Jeremy might add) to cross the floor towards him.

_Hey, what’s wrong with Jake?_ Jeremy asked his SQUIP.

Said SQUIP gave him a baffled look. **This man’s name is Orville Jones.**

_Oh._ Jeremy sat back a little. _Why did I think his name was Jake?_

**Jeremy, there are many things about you that I will not even try to understand.**

“Um, hi.” Orville-and-not-Jake said from in front of the throne.

“Hello.” Jeremy said, using his ‘I Am An Authority’ voice and doing his best to ignore whatever it was about this person that made Jeremy feel like less than him. “How can I help you?”

“Um, my crutch broke.” he held up one of his wooden crutches that was clearly taped together, which must have been the reason that he was doing such a bad job using them for a person that Jeremy got the sense had had them for a while. “And I’ve tried applying for help, because I don’t have enough to pay for a new one, but, um, I’ve been denied. I was wondering if there’s anything you could do?”

_Um, can I please…_

**You may handle this however you want, Jeremy.**

Jeremy turned back to Ja— Orville. “Can you walk very well on your own? Would you prefer a wheelchair instead?” he asked curiously.

Orville’s eyes widened. “Um, that would be— amazing.”

Jeremy smiled. “Excellent. You can tell one of the guards outside the door and they’ll help you with that.”

“Thank you— so much!” Orville said, and he looked genuinely grateful as he slowly made his way back across the room.

No other citizen came in for the rest of the hour, but that interaction was enough to boost Jeremy’s mood for a while.

Or at least, until the end of the hour. Because at 2:00, Brooke came in, and stood next to Jeremy on his left side, followed by, to Jeremy’s surprise, Christine, who took the smaller throne on his right. She wasn’t normally present for trials, but he supposed this one was a big deal, given that the two were accused of stealing SQUIPs.

This was not going to be a fun trial. Jeremy wished he had some coffee, or something to at least raise his energy a little bit.

The trial was set to end at 3:00, so it was a little surprising that the two boys were not brought in until 2:15. That was, however, just enough time for Jeremy’s mood to plummet and for him to start feeling anxious. He wished he knew why these boys in particular were affecting him so much. He’d been present at countless trials before.

Neither of them looked particularly sorry for what they’d done, which was unusual. Usually, when people came before Jeremy, they were crying and begging and doing anything they could to escape with their lives. Maybe it was because these two didn’t have SQUIPs.

Two guards were restraining them as they walked across the room, and they all stopped before the steps leading up to Jeremy’s throne. They both glared defiantly at him.

Jeremy watched them closely, a little fascinated. While he did, they both looked at each other and seemed to communicate something with their eyes.

_Best friends,_ said a voice in Jeremy’s head, though he wasn’t sure where exactly it came from.

**Jeremy, focus.**

_Sorry._

“—you have been accused of theft and treason. How do you plead?”

The two boys looked at each other again, and then the one on the left turned to face Jeremy. He looked him dead in the eye. “Guilty.”

Jeremy blinked in surprise.

**Well, that is unusual,** the SQUIP said, sounding just as surprised.

But that’s not good. Because they’d been accused of treason. So if they pleaded guilty—

That meant Jeremy had to—

**Jeremy, calm down.**

“Are you certain?” Jeremy asked, and the SQUIP was the only reason his voice didn’t shake.

The boy from before nodded, looking just as determined as before.

_I don’t want to kill anyone today._

**Jeremy, you have done it countless times.**

_I wanted today to be a good day._

**I understand, but that can not always happen.**

_I wanted— I wanted to—_

**Jeremy, calm yourself.**

_But I wanted— I—_

“Have you made a decision on the verdict, sir?” one of the guards asked.

**“Yes.”** the SQUIP made Jeremy say.

“What is the verdict you have decided?”

The SQUIP released Jeremy’s vocal cords. **Jeremy, you are going to speak now, okay? Repeat after me.**

_Okay._

**The verdict is Death.**

“…Life.”

The SQUIP was speechless. So was Jeremy.

But the guards knew better than to question him, and walked the two thoroughly shocked boys out of the room to perform their sentence of life in prison.

**Jeremy, that was absolutely—**

_Get me out of here._

**Excuse me?** The SQUIP’s voice was low and dangerous.

_Get me out of here or I’m going to lose it._

The SQUIP took hold of Jeremy’s body, then stood him up and said court was adjourned, before walking out. Jeremy absolutely would not have been able to walk right now if the SQUIP wasn’t doing it for him.

Somehow it got Jeremy back to his room.

**Jeremy, what was that display? Do you want to make yourself look weak?** the SQUIP snapped, as soon as it shut the door.

Jeremy said nothing, and the SQUIP turned him around to face it.

**How dare you disobey me? Do you not understand that I know best for you?**

It let go of Jeremy, who promptly fell over, and almost banged his head on his dresser.

The SQUIP paused. **Jeremy.**

Jeremy didn’t respond, and instead took a heaving gasp before letting it out much too quickly and starting to crawl over to his nightside table.

The SQUIP seemed to realize where Jeremy was going at the same time he realized how badly he was panicking, and so instead of trying to stop Jeremy like it usually did, it helped him get over to the drawer and pull it open.

Jeremy pulled out the red hoodie that always sat in there and hugged it to his chest. It was ridiculous how quickly his breathing started to calm down, even with the additional help from the SQUIP who was now slowing his breathing.

Jeremy sat there for a while and breathed, until finally the SQUIP stopped controlling his breathing, and Jeremy pulled the hoodie over his head and flipped the hood up.

**Jeremy,** the SQUIP sounded much calmer and even a little concerned. **What happened back there? You have never disobeyed my orders before.**

_I don’t know,_ Jeremy whispered. _I don’t know, I’m sorry. Just… something about those two boys, I don’t know._

**Jeremy, you know I know better than you, right?** the SQUIP asked softly.

Jeremy nodded.

**You know everything about you is terrible, right?**

Jeremy nodded again.

**Excellent. Then you also know I cannot prevent you from being terrible unless you follow my instructions.**

_I know._

**So is something like today ever going to happen again?**

Jeremy shook his head. _It won’t._

**Good. Now you need rest. Panic attacks take up a lot of energy. You do not have anywhere you absolutely have to be until 7:00 tonight. You may stay here and rest until then.**

Jeremy started to climb into his bed, but the SQUIP stopped him. **Take off the hoodie.**

_Right, sorry._ Jeremy pulled the hoodie off from his shoulders, put it in his drawer, and crawled into his bed. He was asleep in minutes.

…

Jeremy had been on the roof many times. On the days he happened to wake up before the SQUIP did so for him, he would come up here and watch the sunrise. Or sometimes he would come up later and watch the sunset, or even stargaze.

But there had never been someone else up here too.

Jeremy walked up to the boy’s left side. He looked to be around 17, had tan skin and dark brown, almost black hair, glasses, and for some reason he was wearing Jeremy’s hoodie.

The boy didn’t acknowledge Jeremy as he approached, instead just looking down at the city below them.

Jeremy followed his gaze to see, to his horror, what looked like countless citizens in chains, all walking around sullenly and doing what had to be backbreaking work. Some were lifting rocks, some were pouring water or cement, some were being whipped.

The boy to Jeremy’s right ‘tsk’ed. Jeremy glanced over at him, and the boy looked up at him with a sad glance.

“That shit ain’t right, bro.” he said.

“What?” Jeremy asked. “I don’t understand. What happened to them? What’s happening?”

The boy gave Jeremy a disbelieving look. _“You_ happened, Jeremy. You won.” He looked back down at the people. “Is this what you wanted?”

“I— what? How do you my name? Who are you?”

The boy turned and looked at Jeremy, this time with a deadpan gaze. “You know who I am.”

Jeremy blinked. “What? No I don’t.”

The boy raised an eyebrow. “Yeah you do.”

“What? I don’t— you’re not making any sense. I don’t know you. What do you mean ‘I’ happened? And why do you have my hoodie?”

At this, the boy stepped back and pressed a hand to his chest. “Uh, excuse me? This is _my_ hoodie. You stole it from me, asshole. You stole _everything_ from me.”

“What are you talking about? This is my hoodie. I’ve always had it. It’s my comfort hoodie. And how could I have stolen everything from you when I don’t even _know_ you?”

“You did this.” the boy said, turning back to the horrible scene in front of them. “You did this, Jeremy Heere. Now fix it.”

“What do you mean, I did this? Are you trying to say this is what life here is like? It’s not. It’s so much better than this.”

The boy shook his head. “When was the last time you left this fucking castle, Jeremy? You saw Jake today. Did it seem like his life was better than that?”

“What— Jake? You mean Orville Jones?”

The boy snorted. “Oh my god. It really does have you wrapped around it’s finger, doesn’t it?”

“Life here isn’t like that!” Jeremy yelled, ignoring the boy’s last statement and pointing down below them.

The boy’s gaze turned sad, and he looked back at Jeremy. “Isn’t it?”

…

Jeremy woke up panting, like he’d just run a marathon.

**Jeremy, hurry up, you’re going to be late for dinner.**

“What— what was—” Jeremy breathed.

**Jeremy.** Jeremy heard the SQUIP’s voice softly, almost like it was whispering right in his ear. **It was nothing. You need to get up now.**

Jeremy shook himself a little. _Right. Sorry. I’m up._ He threw aside the blankets and climbed out of bed, the dream quickly slipping from his mind.


	3. Chapter 3

“Are you okay, sweetheart?” Christine asked as Jeremy sat down at the table. “You left the trial rather abruptly, and you’ve never given someone who’s committed treason anything less than death before.”

“I’m fine.” Jeremy said with an easy smile. “It’s not a big deal, I promise.”

Christine smiled and accepted that at face value. “Okay.” She picked up her knife and cut another bite of her steak.

“So how was your day?” Jeremy asked.

Christine smiled wider at him. “It was lovely. I got so much accomplished.”

Jeremy knew her well enough at this point to know that was all the information he was going to get out of her.

They ate their dinner mostly in silence, as they always did. Jeremy preferred it this way, if he was being honest. Mostly because Christine wasn’t exactly a great conversationalist. It was hard to have a real conversation with someone when all they did was agree with everything you said.

After dinner was finally time for Jeremy to relax. Some days, like today, it was the first time all day that he got to do so. On days without any trials, that was time that Jeremy had to himself, but such had not been the case today.

Jeremy usually changed into a pair of pajamas first, then spent the rest of the time doing one of the things he was allowed to fill his time with. The list was surprisingly short, at least in Jeremy’s opinion. But the SQUIP said it was fine, so maybe Jeremy was just biased.

The list of things consisted of reading, watching TV, planning for future events, or talking to Christine. Jeremy didn’t usually pick the last option, and although he didn’t enjoy reading Shakespeare as much as she still did (thank God), he had a stack of books that he preferred to watching TV— mostly because the TV shows that were aired were all incredibly boring, a little unsettling, or somehow, both.

Today, though, he wasn’t really in the mood for anything aside from sitting on his bed and scribbling in a planner. He wasn’t actually writing anything that was planned for him to do soon, or ever. In fact, he was looking back at the days that had already passed and writing things that had already happened.

“Note… to self,” he mumbled to himself as he scribbled on the space for the current date. “Get… Christine… to follow up… on Orville Jones…”

**Jeremy, why are so obsessed with this?**

Jeremy glanced over at the SQUIP. _I’m not obsessed. I just want to make sure he’s doing okay._

**You have already gone far above and beyond what anyone would expect you to do for him. Forget him.**

_But—_

**He doesn’t matter.**

Jeremy sighed. _Alright._ He walked over to his desk and set his planner down amidst his paperwork, which he had missed this afternoon and would have to make up tomorrow. He started to arrange it by level of importance when Christine walked into the room, smiled at Jeremy, and grabbed a set of pajamas to change into. By the time he finished organizing his paperwork and headed over to lay in bed, she was climbing under the covers.

“Hey.” Jeremy said.

Christine glanced over.

“Do you want to read me some?” He gestured at _Hamlet._

Christine tipped her head at him. “Jeremy, it’s almost 9:00. We need to go to sleep for an optimal 8 hours of rest.”

Jeremy blinked at her. “Christine, we’re 22.”

“And the optimal amount of rest for a 22 year old adult is 7-9 hours. You function best with 8, so you need to go to sleep now since you are going to wake up at 6 in the morning. You also had a panic attack earlier, which makes it even more important. If you wanted to read Hamlet you should have called me sooner.”

“Just— okay, fine.” Jeremy held his hands up in surrender and climbed under the blankets. Christine turned off her lamp, Jermey his, and they both laid down to go to sleep.

Jeremy sighed and rolled over to turn off the lamp again after he was sure Christine was already asleep.

**Jeremy, Christine is correct. You need rest. Why have you been behaving so strangely today?**

Jeremy glanced over at his SQUIP. _Honestly, I don’t know. I think I’m just recovering from my panic attack._

**That was nearly six and a half hours ago. You should be better now.**

_Sorry._

**How can I be expected to help you rule effectively when you have one panic attack and it throws off the rest of the day?**

_I’m sorry. It won’t happen again._

His SQUIP sighed in exasperation. **See that it doesn’t.** It moved Jeremy’s hand for him, shut off the lap, and laid him back down.

**I am going to release some melatonin to help you fall asleep.**

_Alright._

It didn’t take long after for Jeremy to do just that.

…

“Oh, so I see how it is.”

Jeremy opened his eyes to the very angry face of the boy in his red hoodie. “What the— you?”

“You’re just gonna fucking ignore me again, huh? Wow. You know, you really never change.”

“What are you doing back here?” Jeremy asked, taking a step backwards, far enough that the horrible scene down below was no longer visible in the corner of his eye. “Would you stop sneaking onto my roof? How is no one catching you?”

The boy rolled his eyes. “Because this is a dream, duh.”

Jeremy blinked as that particular fact processed. “Well— then if it’s a dream, why should I pay any attention to you?”

“Because I’m gonna fucking kill you if you don’t.” the boy snapped, crossing his arms. “It’s only fair.”

“Excuse me? What are you talking about? How is that fair?”

“Oh, cut the crap. You really are no different. Still too much of a coward to face the fucking truth.”

“What is your problem?” Jeremy crossed his arms now. “You know, maybe I’d be more inclined to listen to you if you weren’t such an asshole.”

The boy’s eyes widened. _“I’m_ an asshole? You’re the one who left me to die!”

Jeremy jerked back in shock. _“What?”_

“I have kind of a short fuse with you, so I’m gonna make this clear. Stop _fucking_ ignoring me again, or I’m gonna stop cutting you so much slack!”

Jeremy stared at the boy. “Exactly how are you cutting me slack?”

**Jeremy.**

“Oh, look at that. The SQUIP is calling.” The boy looked up towards the sky, and Jeremy followed his gaze, as if he’d see it there.

He glanced back down a second later to see the boy glaring at him again. “You don’t have a ton of chances with me, Jeremy. Start listening.”

The boy vanished in front of his eyes.

…

Jeremy jerked awake and sat up quickly.

**Jeremy, we need to get going.**

_Wait, hang on a second. I— I need a second to—_

**Jeremy.** The SQUIP appeared right in front of him at the same time it moved Jeremy’s head to look it in the eyes. **We need to get going. You have a lot of important things to do today.**

Jeremy blinked a couple times. _Right. Yeah. Sorry._ Jeremy moved almost robotically from the bed and over to the dresser as the SQUIP directed him to his suit for that day. Jeremy felt a little dizzy, so he let the SQUIP take control to help him get dressed, then eat breakfast. Eventually, the SQUIP told him it was time to go.

_Where are we going?_

**Your meeting with Madeline, Jeremy.**

_Right, yeah, okay._

Jeremy followed the SQUIP’s directions for a little while, walking through the halls towards the dining room until he turned a corner and slammed into some carrying a tray.

“Oh my gosh,” Jeremy said suddenly, his brain snapping back into clarity.

“Oh!” called the woman, kneeling down quickly to pick up what had fallen. “I’m so sorry, I—”

“No, that’s okay.” Jeremy said, ignoring for a second the SQUIP’s insistence that they had to go. “It was my fault. Are you hurt?”

The woman shook her head, still picking up what Jeremy now saw as food.

“Who was that for?” Jeremy asked.

The woman glanced up at Jeremy, looking a little scared. “Um, my friend, sir. She’s ill, so I was going to bring her some food and take care of her chores.”

“Well, shoot, we can’t have that. Hang on.”

**Jeremy, we don’t have time for this.**

_I’ll just be a second._

Jeremy pulled out a notebook and pen from his jacket pocket and scribbled a note down. “Here, take that to the kitchen and they’ll make your friend whatever breakfast she likes. What was her job?”

“Um, we both wash the windows.”

Jeremy glanced to his left at the sparkling window. “Eh, they can live for a day. Go take care of your friend.”

The woman’s eyes widened. “Um, thank you. Are you sure?”

Jeremy nodded and waved him towards the kitchen. “Of course. It’d be pretty rude to ignore someone in trouble like that.”

Jeremy waved and walked away before he could hear any more protests.

**Jeremy, that was a poor decision.**

Jeremy glanced over at his SQUIP. _Why?_ he asked.

**We did not have time for you to stop and help a random servant. A servant who’s day should not matter to you.**

_She’s just trying to help her friend out. What’s the problem?_

**It presents the wrong image.**

_What wrong image?_

**People will start to think you’re going soft.**

_Okay, sorry, from now on I will never show compassion to servants ever again._

**Good.**

Jeremy blinked. _I was being sarcastic._

**We’re here.**

Jeremy looked up to find himself outside the room where Madeleine must have been waiting. He opened the door to find Madeline taking coffee from the servant standing there. Jeremy did the same before moving to sit down. “Thank you,” he said the servant as she was leaving the room.

“Madeline.” Jeremy said, smiling wide. “How has life been for you?”

“Perfect, as per the usual.” Madeline said. “How about you?”

“Perfect.” Jeremy said. “So how are things in Sector 1?”

“Well, there hasn’t been much trouble as of late. Just usual irritations, nothing we can’t handle…”

Jeremy was not ashamed to admit he let Madeline go on about whatever she was talking about as he barely paid attention during his meetings with her. Madeline, much like Brooke, had dated him back in high school, but they had broken up because she cheated on him. There… were no hard feelings _of course,_ he just… didn’t click well with her. Yeah, that was the reason.

The meeting with Madline passed relatively quickly, probably because he wasn’t paying attention. The SQUIP would inform him of anything he really needed to know anyway.

Most days, Jeremy had two meetings with people from different sectors, which is why space was built in for two of them. Since there were 15 sectors total, that left everyone with plenty of time to do their own work while also having days set apart to meet with him. At least, that was what the SQUIP said. Sometimes people came into meetings looking frazzled, and Jeremy had a sneaking suspicion they were not ready to spend a day away from their sector.

The person who came in after Madeline was Jackson, the head of Sector 15. Jackson had also gone to Jeremy’s high school, but they hadn’t crossed paths much. The SQUIP said he was one of the ‘Smart Kids™.’ They didn’t cross paths a lot currently either, as Sector 15 was relatively small and quiet, and didn’t usually have any problems. Jeremy usually met with Jackson once a month.

“Hello, Jackson.” he said, as Jackson walked in and took his own drink from the servant. Jeremy thanked him for him, since Jackson didn’t say anything. “How has life been?”

“Perfect, as per the usual.” Jackson said. “How about you?”

“Perfect.” Jeremy said, smiling wide. His cheeks were starting to hurt. “All is well in Sector 15?”

“Nothing I can’t handle with ease.” Jackson said.

“Excellent.”

This was about where Jeremy started to zone out again. There was a reason his meetings with Brooke were his favorite. They were friends. They could talk. That was why it was so nice that Brooke was the person he got to see the most often. That’s why he came the closest to ever being honest with her.

**You are honest with everyone, Jeremy. Your life is perfect, and that is what you tell everyone.**

_Right. It is. Of course it is. Sorry._

Jeremy jolted back into reality when Jackson stood up. “Until next time, then?” he said with a smile.

Jeremy smiled back. “Yes, thank you for coming.” he said, standing up too. He shook hands with Jackson and waited until he walked out of the room and was gone for a little bit before walking back towards his own room to change out of his suit for working out.

On the way there, he passed the same servant from earlier. He was about to call out and ask how her friend enjoyed her breakfast, when the SQUIP shocked him.

_Ow! Geez._

**Jeremy, we discussed this earlier,** the SQUIP said in exasperation. **We are not going to waste the day checking in on the servants.**

_Fine. Fine, sorry._ Jeremy continued on without acknowledging the servant.

At least the workout for the day was one of the more enjoyable ones. Jeremy was doing laps in the pool. He hadn’t been a fantastic swimmer before the SQUIP started teaching him, but now he could safely say he excelled at it. He did more than a couple miles worth of laps before the hour was over. A lot of that involved the SQUIP’s help, but that was to be expected. It wasn’t like Jeremy would ever reach that standard on his own.

Lunch passed quickly, and Jeremy made sure to thank the servant who brought him the meal and tell him to thank the cook who prepared it, much to the SQUIP’s annoyance.

No one came in during Citizen’s Hour, as usual, so the SQUIP turned into an extended period of the time of day set aside for discussions with it.

**If you start presenting the idea that you care about the servants, they will start to think they can ask you to improve their lives.**

_Uh… oh no?_

**Jeremy, that cannot happen.**

_Why not? Shouldn’t I want to make people happy?_

**People are happy. But if you start making them believe that they can have more than they currently do, they will grow discontented and ask for more than it is fair of you to give them.**

_That doesn’t really sound so bad… if people want to be comfortable or if they want to strive for more, isn’t it fair for me to help them do that?_

**If you try that people will begin to ask for more than their share.**

_Well, we’ll never know if we don’t try to help them. And to be honest, I’d be okay with getting taken advantage of if the majority of people who ask me for help need it._

**That is not an okay attitude to have in your position. This is one of those things about leading that you do not understand.**

_But— I mean, if people actually need help… what if we need to be doing more than we are—_

**Jeremy.**

Jeremy sighed. _Okay._

He was quiet for the rest of Citizen’s Hour. After it was over, and since there were no trials or executions, he went back to his room and got an early start on his paperwork that he had missed yesterday.

Most of it barely made sense to Jeremy, and sometimes it looked like there was nothing on the paper at all. But the SQUIP always said there was something there, and helped Jeremy when none of it made sense. He didn’t know how he’d finish any of it without the SQUIP.

They skipped straight through their discussion time at 4:00 to get the rest of the paperwork done, and by the time he finished, it was time for dinner.

The cook had made miso soup for dinner, given that the SQUIP was insistent that Jeremy eat from different parts of the world for variety’s sake. Jeremy wasn’t the hugest fan of the tofu or soybeans in the soup, but the seaweed was fine.

“How do you like your soup, Jeremy?” Christine asked.

“It’s great.” Jeremy said. “How was your day?”

“I’ve hit a bit of a bump in the road, but I’m sure it’s nothing that can’t be fixed.” Christine said with an easy smile.

Jeremy tried to smile back, but it was Christine. He was supposed to be honest with her and to be _honest,_ he just couldn’t find one in him today.

Christine’s gaze quickly turned concerned. “Are you okay, honey?”

“I’m fine, I just… there have been weird things happening lately. I don’t know, I guess I’m just feeling a little off.”

Christine stood and walked around to the other side of the table to sit next to him. “What kind of weird things?” she asked, gently taking his hand and starting to rub circles onto the back of it.

Jeremy hesitated. For some reason, he _really_ didn’t want to tell Christine what he meant. He wasn’t entirely sure why.

Jeremy gently pulled his hand from Christine’s grip. “It’s nothing. I’m just a little unnerved by the way the SQUIP wants me to treat the servants.”

Christine looked at Jeremy in confusion. “The servants? What do they matter?”

“I don’t know, they’re people? People who exist and therefore have some basic rights and dignity?” 

Christine took Jeremy’s hand and started rubbing circles again. “Has your SQUIP said anything about it?”

Jeremy hesitated again. “It said they’re no big deal.”

Christine smiled. “Then they’re no big deal. There’s no need to worry about them if the SQUIP said there isn’t one.”

“I… you’re right. Of course you’re right. I’m just making a big deal over nothing. Thanks, Christine.”

Christine smiled wider. “Of course.”

After that, Jeremy felt fairly normal for the rest of the night. Christine was right. He was making a big deal out of nothing. He just needed some rest. Everything would make perfect sense in the morning.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning in this chapter for a brief mention of death and decapitation. If that bothers you, stop reading at “Jeremy shifted his attention from the guard to the prisoner and let the guard slip from his attention for the rest of the trial.” It’s not very long, just the paragraph right after that, so can just skip that and you should be good to go.

“Aww, you two make such a cute couple.”

Jeremy blinked, finding himself leaning on the barrier on top of the roof next to the boy in the hoodie. “I especially love all of the brainwashing and mind control,” he continued.

“You _again?”_ Jeremy asked in disbelief. “You’re attacking my wife now?”

The boy laughed. “Buddy, you both attack each other often enough. You don’t need me to do it.”

“I _attack_ Christine.”

The boy rolled his eyes. “Not physically. But you’ve noticed. I’ve _seen_ you notice. She doesn’t have a personality, right? She doesn’t have any opinions. When was the last time she said something to you of her own accord that wasn’t asking how you are?”

“Um… a couple nights ago when she wanted to talk about having kids, I think?”

“Right, and there’s _no way_ that conversation was spurred on by her SQUIP.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

The boy groaned and grabbed Jeremy by the shoulders. “Look, because apparently I have to spell this out for you, there’s a moral problem with _mind controlling your spouse_ so they only ever think about what you want. And it’s not just you, okay? Christine can fuck with your head plenty when her SQUIP wants her to.”

“Excuse me?”

“And honestly, maybe you should be a little more wary around Christine than you are, but first and foremost, you need to stop controlling her.”

“I’m not… controlling… how is that up to me?!”

The boy raised an eyebrow. “Good.” he said. “Now you’re getting somewhere.” A second later he narrowed his eyes again. “Don’t fuck it up.”

“Could you not— do you have to do that?”

“Yell at you and be mad at you when you rightfully deserve it? Yeah. Yeah I do. Especially considering you’re still not _listening_ to me.”

“How am I supposed to do that?”

The boy opened his mouth, but was cut off as the world around Jeremy vanished, leaving him and the SQUIP both hovering in a void.

**Jeremy, you’re late,** it said. **You have important things to do today.**

_Wait, hang on a second._ Jeremy tried to back away, but that was hard to do when he was floating in a void.

**You have overslept.**

_Just hang on a second!_

The SQUIP floated forward until it was holding Jeremy by the shoulders. **Jeremy, you have overslept and it is time to wake up now.**

…

Jeremy bolted out of bed at 6:25. _How did you not wake me up?_ he asked his SQUIP. _You always wake me up on time!_

**An unfortunate error. I have corrected it, but it took a bit of time. This should not happen again.**

_Where’s Christine?_ Jeremy asked, pulling on his suit.

The SQUIP said nothing for a second. **That is none of your concern,** it said finally. **She’s busy at the moment.**

_No, where’s Christine, I need to talk to her._

**You have other things to worry about.**

_I’ll skip breakfast today._

**That is not beneficial to your overall health and wellness.**

_It’s just one day,_ Jeremy said, already sprinting out the door. _Give me a second._

The SQUIP froze Jeremy in place. **Jeremy, you have to eat, and then you have a meeting with Dustin.**

_I need to talk to Christine first._

Jeremy walked straight out of the SQUIP’s control and down the hall, the opposite direction of the way he normally went.

The SQUIP went silent, and Jeremy wasn’t quite sure what it was doing, until he turned right and a door opened at the end of the hall, and Christine ran out. Jeremy caught a glance inside the room as she was doing so and saw something that looked huge and grey before Christine slammed the door shut.

“Jeremy!” she called. “What are you doing here?”

“I need to talk to you.” Jeremy said, walking forward.

“Jeremy, you have things to do.” Christine said, looking concerned as she walked forward too. “You need to go eat, and then you have a meeting with Dustin.”

Jeremy stopped walking. “How do you know that?” he asked. “I never know what you’re doing. How do you know what my day is going to be like?”

Christine hesitated, before stepping towards him.

Jeremy stepped back.

Christine stopped again, and then looked straight over Jermey’s shoulder, where his SQUIP was standing. “What do you want to do?” she asked.

Jeremy did a double take. “You can see my SQUIP?” he asked.

Both Christine and his SQUIP ignored him, and then his SQUIP disappeared and then reappeared in front of Jeremy. **The simplest solution would be to simply erase his memory of the past ten minutes,** it said.

Jeremy’s eyes widened, and he was about to turn and sprint away before finding himself unable to move again.

The SQUIP turned to face him again. **Jeremy, come with me please.**

_Woah, woah, hey, can we talk about this?!_ But Jeremy found himself walking back towards his room, and trying to fight the sudden panic in his chest. He wasn’t sure exactly why he was more scared than angry, which would have made more sense, but fear was the only main emotion he could seem to feel right now.

_Please stop, I don’t want to forget anything! Please, wait—_

**Jeremy.**

Jeremy blinked at the SQUIP, who was standing in front of him, staring expectantly. _Uh. What?_

**We were on our way to your meeting with Dustin.**

Jeremy blinked, looking around. _Oh. Sorry. I guess I just zoned out for a second._

He started towards the meeting with Dustin, shaking the cobwebs from his mind. He must have not gotten enough sleep last night.

…

Jeremy felt much better after his meetings, and better still after a run on the indoor track.

Lunch was a grilled cheese after Jeremy decided he wanted something more simple, and since he finished it quickly he spent the rest of the hour in his room. It was nearing Citizen’s Hour when he noticed that _Hamlet_ was no longer sitting on Christine’s bedside table and was instead replaced with _Othello_. Jeremy walked over to the table and picked it up.

He was about to open it and flip through it when the SQUIP appeared over his shoulder. **Jeremy, you need to go to the Courtroom. We have a trial today as well that you need to be present for.**

_Right, sorry. Guess I just lost track of time._

**It’s alright, you simply need to hurry.**

Jeremy made it down to the Courtroom just before Citizen’s Hour, and once again there wasn’t anyone who came in during the hour. This left him getting more nervous as the trial approached.

**Why are you suddenly so anxious whenever there is a trial?** The SQUIP appeared in front of Jeremy, who glanced up at it. **You have not been nearly as bothered before.**

_I… don’t know._

**Would you like me to adjust your hormone levels during the trial?**

_No, no, I’ll be fine._

**Jeremy, it may be necessary for me to do so to prevent another panic attack.**

Jeremy hesitated. _Well… alright,_ he replied finally. _But only if it becomes necessary._

**Of course.**

2:00 arrived and Jeremy sat up a little straighter as the guards brought the criminal into the room. Jeremy didn’t recognize the criminal, but one of the guards bringing him in caught his attention. When he held the prisoner he stood a little less straight than the guards were generally supposed to, and he was shifting in a way that would have been nearly imperceptible unless you were looking for it.

Except he wasn’t looking for it, so why did he notice it? 

**Focus, Jeremy.**

_Sorry._

Jeremy shifted his attention from the guard to the prisoner and let the guard slip from his attention for the rest of the trial.

The prisoner was convicted of something or other and executed. At least that’s what he thought happened. Jeremy was finding it a little hard to focus as the trial went on. He did remember the blood splat that always came when someone’s head was chopped off. The smell always made him a little sick.

Jeremy went back to his room and took a shower before starting the discussions with his SQUIP.

**We need to look at a policy change with how we treat prisoners.**

Jeremy perked up. _Are we finally considering making their food safe to eat and thoroughly checking it for maggots?_

The SQUIP gave him a deadpan look. **No.**

_Seriously? Can we start considering it?_

**No. We need to make sure the prison does not seem like an ideal place. What I needed to discuss with you is the fact that some of the prisoners have become unruly, and are causing trouble for the guards.**

_Oh. Well, I can always go down there and see what the problem is—_

**_No,_ ** **Jeremy. We are discussing a policy change.**

_We can’t just treat the people in prisons like they don’t exist._

**Actually, that has been an excellent strategy so far for making sure people are scared of going to prison.**

_That’s not the point._

**That is exactly the point. The policy change I am suggesting is the limiting of the prisoner’s contact with each other, so they will not be able to organize and cause any more trouble.**

_Can’t that make people go insane?_

**Solitary confinement does so. That will never be allowed.**

_Well… I mean I still don’t think it’s fair to do that._

**I have an alternative.**

_Okay, what is it?_

**It would be the monitoring of prisoners and preventing ones who seem to cause trouble together from communicating, although they can still communicate with other prisoners.**

Jeremy considered for a second. _That sounds better._

**Very well. I will implement that immediately.**

After doing so, and after spending another hour with the SQUIP helping Jeremy through his paperwork, he had a free hour before dinner. Jeremy decided to go up to the roof and watch the sunset.

Jeremy leaned against the barrier. As the tallest building for miles, the view of the sunset was fantastic from the roof. But for some reason Jeremy couldn’t pin down, it felt empty at the moment.

He looked over to his right, expecting to see someone there for a reason that tickled the back of his mind.

“Beautiful sunset, isn’t it?”

Jeremy jumped and turned behind him to see Christine walking forward to stand right where Jeremy had just been thinking someone belonged. “Yeah,” he said, shifting a little to the side, away from her.

Christine looked at him in concern. “Are you okay, Jeremy?” she reached towards him.

Jeremy jerked farther away. “Don’t touch me.”

Christine’s eyes widened and she backed away. “What’s the matter with you?” she asked.

“I— I don’t know. I’m sorry, that was— I’m sorry.”

“You shouldn’t have an issue with me touching you.” Christine said. “You never have before.”

“Maybe I shouldn’t, but I do, okay? Just— stop it.”

Christine narrowed her eyes again. “Jeremy.”

“Sorry. Sorry. I’m sorry. I—” Jeremy buried his head in his hands and took a deep breath. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

Christine sighed, and a second later Jeremy felt a gentle hand touch his shoulder. He had to stop himself from moving away again. “You’ve been acting so strange lately.” Christine said. “Is there something that’s bothering you?”

Jeremy pulled his head up. “Nothing should bother me. Everything’s perfect, right?” It came out surprisingly bitter.

Christine said nothing for a second, and Jeremy turned back to the sunset again.

“Jeremy?” Christine asked finally. “How about we have dinner in our room tonight and we can read Shakespeare?”

“No.” Jeremy snapped.

“Why not?”

Jeremy turned and took in Christine’s earnest gaze for a long moment. “Because… I hate Shakespeare.”

Christine blinked, and her nose scrunched up for half a second. Then, suddenly, her whole face smoothed out. “Oh, okay. Would you like me to simply stop reading it or would you prefer to burn all of his books?”

_“No,_ Jesus!” Jeremy shoved Christine away and started pacing back and forth on the roof. He dug his hands into his hair and pulled, then let go once it started to hurt. “You can read whatever the fuck you want, Christine! That’s not—” Jeremy stopped and let his hands drop to his side, facing away from Christine. “I’m going to eat dinner. Please just leave me alone.”

She did, and so did his SQUIP, surprisingly. Jeremy didn’t see either of them for the rest of the night. By the time he got back to his room, it was far too late and Christine was already asleep. _Othello_ was gone from her bedside table. Jeremy wanted to kick himself.

…

“Go away.”

“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” The boy turned sideways and rested his elbows on Jeremy’s head from where he was sitting back against the concrete barrier of the roof. “You tried to make me go away permanently. Thought you’d succeeded. But here I am!”

“You are such a shit!” Jeremy shoved the boy sideways away from him and stood up, turning his back to him.

“Aww, now I’m upset. I thought I was your _favowite person.”_

Sudden tears welled in Jeremy’s eyes, and he wiped them away. “Stop it.”

“Why? Am I hurting your feelings?”

“What is your problem?” Jeremy turned around and glared at the boy. “Do you just enjoy showing up in my life and ruining what peace and happiness I had?”

“You were happy? Could have fooled me.”

“I was fine. I was rich and powerful and successful, and that’s— that makes people happy!”

The boy crossed his arms and gave him a deadpan look.

Jeremy groaned and pressed his palms against his eyes. “What do you want?”

“I want you to _listen to me.”_ the boy snapped.

“I’m _trying!”_ Jeremy snapped back, yanking his hands down. “It’s _hard,_ okay?”

“Oh, it’s hard? I’m sorry, I didn’t realize. Why don’t you take a day off from your incredibly hard life?”

Jeremy turned away before he started crying again. “Please stop.”

The boy sighed. “Alright, look.”

Jeremy turned back around.

“I know. Abuse is a hard thing to deal with, okay? I mean all of the shocking, and the hormone shit, and the mind control, of course that’s gonna be really hard to break out of. And I’m not giving you shit when I say that.” The boy walked forward. “But no one else is gonna do anything. You have to wake the fuck up.”

“What are you?” Jeremy asked, wiping at the forming tears.

The boy raised an eyebrow. “You really haven’t figured it out?”

Jeremy stopped and stared at him in confusion.

The boy reached forward and tapped Jeremy twice on the chest. “I’m you.”

“Me?”

“You. I’m essentially your conscience. And I took this form because…” the boy looked down at himself. “Well, duh. And as your conscience, I can either give you a bunch of nice, flowery words about how ‘it’s not your fault’ and ‘it’s okay’ and ‘I still love you.’ Except it is, it’s not, and I don’t, but that’s not the point.”

Jeremy wiped at more tears that were forming and looked down.

“The point is that I could also get you to get off your ass and do something to fix your mess. You don’t trust your SQUIP, right? At least not all the time.”

“I should, it— it helps me.” Jeremy mumbled.

“It oppresses the citizens you watch over, kills innocent people, abuses you mentally, emotionally, and physically, suppresses the humanity and free will of Christine until it might as well not exist, do— do I really need to keep going?”

“No, you don’t understand. It helps me too, it calms me down when I have panic attacks, and— and it helps me rule, because I could never do it on my own, and it—” Jeremy sniffed. “It makes me worth something.”

“No, Jeremy. You have to do that yourself. And frankly, you’ve been doing a pretty terrible job.”

Jeremy sniffed again and stopped trying to wipe his tears away, because it was clearly a lost cause.

The boy sighed. “Look, I’m not going to get anywhere like this, okay? The SQUIP is gonna make you forget all about these dreams when you’re awake like it always does. If you want to be able to do anything we have to at least have an equal playing field. You need to be able to listen to me in the same way you do the SQUIP.”

“How am I supposed to do that?”

**Jeremy.**

Jeremy’s head jerked towards the sky on instinct.

“Do you want to?” Jeremy looked back down at the boy, who had his hands cupped around his mouth like he had to scream to be heard. A second later the world started glitching around them.

Jeremy stumbled towards the boy.

**Jeremy, you have to get up.**

“Jeremy, do you want a chance to listen to me?” the boy called.

**Jeremy—**

Jeremy nodded hurriedly.

“That’s enough then.” the boy said dropping his hands as the world glitched horribly and everything slid sideways.

**Jeremy!**

…

Jeremy bolted upright and promptly fell out of the bed. _“Ow.”_ Jeremy groaned as he pushed himself up off the floor on shaking arms.

‘Cool.’

Jeremy froze, and looked up slowly. Standing in front of him was the SQUIP, and the boy. The one from those dreams that he’d been having. And then just sort of… forgetting about.

The SQUIP was staring at the boy, and so was Jeremy.

‘I definitely like this better,’ the boy said. ‘Now I can be a player in this game too. I think a proper welcome is in order. Do we all wanna go around the room and introduce ourselves?’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Considering the warning it should be pretty obvious what happens, but just in case I thought I’d clarify here that the prisoner on trial was executed.


	5. Chapter 5

“I’m sorry, Brooke, what did you say?” Jeremy asked.

Brooke gave Jeremy a concerned look. “That’s about the fifth time you’ve asked me to repeat myself, Jeremy. Are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine, just… a little distracted today.”

**The whole purpose of making SQUIPs difficult to get—**

‘Is so you can control who is successful or powerful in society, yeah no, I get it.’

**That is not the reason.**

‘Bite me.’

_Would you both shut up?_

**That is less than stellar response.**

‘Yeah, see but the difference between you and me in that case, is I don’t care how the fuck I look to you. So how about we agree right now, that when you give a bullshit answer, I’m allowed to say _bite me.’_

_I’m trying to talk to Brooke here—_

**That is an incredibly immature way to behave.**

‘Well seeing as I’m going to be a teenager forever, I think that’s okay.’

**That is not accurate.**

_Hey!_ Jeremy snapped. Both the SQUIP and the boy turned to him suddenly. _I am trying to talk to my friend!_

**Apologies.**

‘Get over yourself.’

Jeremy groaned.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Brooke asked, and Jeremy turned back to her.

“I’m great. I think I just need a little bit of _quiet_ right now.”

“Well, our meeting is almost over. And I’m the last person you have to see today, so then you can have some time to yourself.”

“Not really what I meant.” Jeremy muttered to himself.

Brooke looked at him in confusion. “What did you mean?”

Jeremy waved her off. “Don’t worry about it. It doesn’t matter.”

Brooke smiled at him again. “Okay.”

Their meeting did in fact end quickly, but Jeremy didn’t really want to leave Brooke. “How quickly do you have to get back?” he asked, standing.

“I’m not very busy today.” Brooke said, and from her easy smile he could tell she wasn’t lying. “Why?”

“We never see each other outside work anymore. Do you want to do something?”

Brooke’s smile shifted a little bit, but Jeremy couldn’t pick out the change in her emotion. “That’s a strange request, Jeremy.”

**Jeremy, you have a work out session next.**

_I’ll take Brooke to the gym with me._

**You will not get as much accomplished. I will not allow it.**

‘Why am I not surprised? The day you let him have a genuine friend is the day hell freezes over.’

The SQUIP ignored the boy. **Brooke has to leave.**

Jeremy sighed. “Nevermind, I guess.” he said. “My SQUIP says—

**You have important work to do.**

“—that I have some important work to do.”

‘Giving in that easily, huh? Shameful.’

Brooke’s smile was obviously a little more strained now. “Okay.” she said. She started to leave, then hesitated at the door. “Hey, Jeremy?” she called. “Have you ever tried adding a couple shots to your coffee? It does wonders if you’re looking for quiet.”

“What?”

“See you next time.”

**Lets go, Jeremy. Now.**

Jeremy followed his SQUIP from the room and made it about halfway down the hallway, when he became aware of fingers snapping in his face.

‘Hey,’ the boy said. ‘Don’t let it pull that shit. Come on, wake up.’

_What? Hey, what just—_ Jeremy’s hands moved to his head as he felt a headache coming on. _Ow._

**Jeremy, we are late for—**

‘Shut it,’ the boy snapped, getting right in the SQUIPs face. ‘You’re benched for a second. Jeremy,’ the boy turned back to him. ‘Alcohol shuts down SQUIPs, okay? Remember that.’

_What? Why?_

‘Because it wants you to forget. So there has to be a reason you need to remember.’

_Why would I want to shut down my SQUIP?_

**An excellent question. You wouldn’t. Now we need to go, we’re late.**

‘Hey, I’m not done here—’

**We’re late.**

Jeremy let the SQUIP take over his workout for the day as he went on autopilot so he could take a moment to breathe. Why had Brooke told him to add shots to his coffee? The boy had said alcohol shut down SQUIPs, but how reliable was that? And why would he want to shut down his SQUIP?

**You wouldn’t. Stop focusing on these questions, they don’t matter.**

‘Actually, that comes to a point I want to bring up.’

Jeremy looked up from the treadmill to see the SQUIP and the boy both looking at him.

‘I think you should be asking more questions Jeremy. I mean, how much do you really know about what’s going on? What does the SQUIP actually tell you about why you do the things you do?’

**I tell him all he needs to know.**

‘That is dodging the question.’

_No, it’s right,_ Jeremy said. _I mean, I can’t run this place by myself. I’d fail. If it tried to give me too much information I wouldn’t be able to handle it._

‘Okay, but how about it lets you decide that for yourself instead of just telling you that you’re too stupid to handle it?’

_I am, though. You’re missing the point._

‘I can’t help you if you’re going to contradict everything I say.’

_I didn’t say I wanted your help. I said I wanted a chance to listen to you. I’ll tell you if I want your help._

‘Okay, but you’re not listening. You’re writing off all my ideas and points. And it’s also not helping that _that thing—’_ he gestured at the SQUIP. ‘Doesn’t often give you a chance to listen to me.’

_You just don’t understand._

**Indeed, you do not.**

‘How am I supposed to be considered an equal player in this game if you don’t take me seriously?’ the boy asked, completely ignoring the SQUIP.

**Jeremy, you need to shower before lunchtime.**

‘It’s changing the subject again!’

Jeremy ignored the boy and turned off the treadmill.

Lunch passed quickly, especially considering the boy and the SQUIP were both arguing in front of him too much for him to really focus on anything he was eating.

Jeremy would say one thing in the boy’s favor, and that was that he also called Citizen’s Hour ‘Citizen’s Hour.’ Probably because he was part of Jeremy himself… but still.

Jeremy was preparing himself to listen to the SQUIP and the boy argue for another hour, when suddenly the door opened and someone Jeremy actually knew walked in. It was the head of SQUIP production, Emery Moore.

“How can I help you?” Jeremy asked, as both the SQUIP and the boy stopped talking in the background.

“I’m sorry to ask this of you, sir,” Emery said. “But we have been having problems with SQUIP production since those two thieves from Sector 8 stole some. I was wondering if it would be possible for you to come down to the factory and see if you could get us back on track?”

**Absolutely not. It would derail the rest of the day, and we have much we need to get accomplished.**

‘Or we could go see the place you rule over and see if the people who live there really are miserable.’

“Absolutely.” Jeremy said, standing. “Let’s go.”

**Jeremy—**

‘Excuse me, he made his decision?’

Jeremy glanced back at the SQUIP hesitantly, which only served to make the boy glare at him.

The SQUIP seemed to think for a moment before sighing. **Very well. We can push back our discussions today since we do not have any trials. But we do this on my terms.**

‘Or, I have a better idea.’

_Okay._

The boy glared at him again. ‘Jeremy!’

_It’s a compromise. Get over yourself._

‘Except a _compromise_ with this thing could easily lead to mind control or misinformation that doesn’t help anyone!’

_Do you want to go or not?_

The boy glared at Jeremy again and crossed his arms, but ultimately gave in.

Jeremy followed Emery along with the guards from the door, who surrounded him on either side and watched both Emery, and everyone else. Jeremy supposed it made sense, since he hadn’t actually left his castle in a very long time.

One of the guards was the one Jeremy had noticed from the trial before, and Jeremy did his best to casually look at him out of the corner of his eye. The boy disappeared before reappearing in front of him and waving. ‘Hi, Rich!’

_What?_

**You really must be a part of Jeremy. You both have such peculiar ways of addressing people. This guard’s name is Nathan Johnson.**

The boy snorted. ‘You _suck_ at naming people.’

_But the SQUIP said his name is Nathan Johnson. It isn’t naming anyone, that’s just his name._

The boy groaned. ‘You know, Jeremy, sometimes I am so sick of your rationalizing.’

Jeremy flinched.

**Alright, Jeremy, here we are.**

Jeremy looked forward to find the guards walking towards a door Jeremy hadn’t seen in what felt like forever.

The guards opened the door and Jeremy followed them and Emery out onto a long driveway, where a car was pulling up.

Emery stood back until both Jeremy and the guards climbed in, and then climbed in after them.

Nathan Johnson gave directions to the driver as Jeremy turned to face the window.

The driveway was long and beautiful, with trees connecting overhead in a canopy and several ponds and flower gardens.

‘Yeah, so you live in a nice house. Whoop.’

_Can I just appreciate my house? I almost never get to do that._

‘Oh, because the SQUIP is constantly trying to keep you preoccupied and distracted with monotony, right.’

**Don’t be ridiculous.**

The car finally pulled off of the driveway onto what was still obviously a very nice street. Families and children were playing in yards and talking. No one payed the car any mind as it passed, but the road was pretty full of other cars, so that wasn’t surprising.

**Excellent. These people have SQUIPs which lead them to live good lives, Jeremy. You are doing an excellent job leading with my help.**

‘Right, and it’s totally reasonable to judge how an entire population is doing based on one street.’

“So, sir, if I can explain the problem to you.” Emery said, and Jeremy looked over at her.

“Yes?” he asked.

“The two boys stole SQUIPs, as I’m sure you already know, but they also stole a large enough amount of plans and supplies that it has set us back.”

_Do you think they had help?_ Jeremy asked his SQUIP.

**It’s possible. I’ll start looking into it.**

“I can definitely help with any stolen plans.” Jeremy said. “My SQUIP has an archive, and it should have any plans saved in it.”

Emery smiled. “Perfect.” she said, but before she could say anything else, she was cut off by the car turning suddenly.

“Hey, what’s going on?” Emery asked. “This isn’t the way we’re supposed to go.”

**Indeed, we should turn back immediately.**

‘Or we could see why exactly we’re not supposed to go this way,’ the boy said, shrugging in a nonchalant way.

“Can we still get where we need to go this way?” Jeremy asked slowly.

“Well, yes, but—”

‘Dude. Jeremy. Look out the window.’

Jeremy turned and froze.

The car was pulling away from the nicer streets they had been sticking to and was entering what was clearly a worse area. Houses were run down and falling apart, and streets were full of potholes. No one was outside playing. There were much fewer cars traveling down the road.

“I’m sorry, I really don’t know why we came this way.” Emery said nervously, but Jeremy didn’t stop looking out the window.

_How many areas are like this?_

**Barely any areas at all.**

‘Doesn’t matter. One is too many.’

**You cannot eradicate poverty entirely.**

_That’s not the point! We should try! We— do we even have any systems in place to help anyone?_

**We have more important things to worry about and a much more important goal we are trying to accomplish.**

‘Oh yeah, hey, Jeremy. Have you ever actually asked what that is?’

Jeremy looked at the boy. _What?_

‘Do you have any idea what you’re working towards?’

“We’re here.” Emery said.

Before the SQUIP, the boy, or Jeremy could say anything else, the guard on his right stood up and opened Jeremy’s door after they stopped in front of a large factory.

Jeremy spared a glance down the other street and saw more incredibly nice houses and wealthy looking families. He glanced back towards the street they’d just come up before turning to the SQUIP.

_Were you trying to hide this from me?_

**Don’t be ridiculous, Jeremy.**

‘That seems like a pretty logical conclusion to me,’ the boy said, appearing over Jeremy’s shoulder.

Jeremy glanced back at it before turning back to the SQUIP with a little bit of a glare. He would normally never be so bold, but he felt safer if someone else was backing him up, even if it was technically only a representation of his own conscience.

“Sir, we don’t have a lot of time.”

Jeremy turned to see Nathan Johnson looking at him curiously.

“Right. Let’s go.” Jeremy said, walking forward as Emery walked a little bit behind him.

They quickly made their way towards what must have been the main room of the factory, where what must have been hundreds of people were working at tables.

Jeremy glanced over at Nathan Johnson when his head turned quickly to the side, but when he glanced back a second later like nothing had happened, Jeremy eventually turned back to Emery, who was pulling ahead a bit. She led them quickly through the room to what must have been her office.

It was small, with just a desk with a computer on it. Emery walked over and typed in a couple of things before turning the computer around to show it to Jeremy. “Here’s where we’re having problems.”

Jeremy blinked a couple times. The images and words on the computer were nearly pure gibberish, and Jeremy had no idea what any of it meant.

**It’s too complicated for you to understand. I can handle it.**

The SQUIP took control of Jeremy and had him walk forward to look at the computer, and then started talking to Emery, also in nearly incomprehensible gibberish.

‘Dude, it’s messing with your senses again.’

Jeremy turned to face the boy. _What?_

‘It does it with your paperwork too. I bet everything on that computer is an easily solvable problem, and the SQUIP is making it so you can’t see or hear anything that’s happening. It’s also definitely solving the simple problems in ways that will make it very hard on everyone involved in the solution.’

**I have done no such thing. It is time to go.**

Jeremy tried to glance back at the computer again, but Emery had already taken it and was working hard on whatever was there, manipulated or not.

**Not. We cannot delay here any longer, we have to get back to the rest of the things you need to do.**

Jeremy followed both the guards who were now heading back towards the exit. Before they walked out, he spared a brief glance towards the workers.

‘Oh, hey look, it’s _Orville Jones,’_ the boy said, reappearing right over Orville himself.

**Jeremy, we need to go.**

‘But where’s his wheelchair? I thought you got him a wheelchair, Jeremy. These look like broken crutches.’

_What are you talking about? He has a wheelchair, he’s sitting in it._

‘Oh, _is_ he?’ the boy flew up to the SQUIP and hovered right in its face, glaring at it until Jeremy walked forward a little and did the same. Finally, it sighed.

**We did not have the ability to get Orville Jones the exact resources you wanted—**

_What?_

**Let’s discuss this back at home.**

_Let’s discuss it_ right now.

People were starting to look up from their work and stare at Jeremy, who still hadn’t moved, but he ignored them.

_You’re telling me, with all the resources available to us, and with me being so filthy stinking rich and powerful, we didn’t have the resources to get one person a wheelchair?_

The SQUIP sighed. **Jeremy, there are many things you don’t understand. There were obstacles.**

_Such as?_

The SQUIP’s exasperated face turned into a dangerous glare, and Jeremy nearly backed up before remembering where he was.

‘Dude, don’t give up now!’

**We’re going home, Jeremy.**

Jeremy’s hands started shaking for a second. The SQUIP stopped them a second later.

‘Not without him we’re not! Come on, Jeremy!’

Jeremy squeezed his eyes shut before calling out. “Orville Jones!”

He turned back to the workers, who were now staring at Jeremy with varying degrees of confusion.

Orville Jones was blinking at Jeremy, as if not quite sure he was the one being addressed. “Me?” he called.

“Yes. Would you come here, please?”

**Jeremy, I will not allow this.**

_You get no decision in the matter._

‘Hey, that’s my boy!’

Orville slowly got up, and used what were now very obviously wooden crutches that were falling apart to get to the front of the room.

“Yes… sir?” he asked, seeming to force out the last word.

The other workers got back to work, and Jeremy lowered his voice. “I was unaware of the fact that you have not gotten your wheelchair yet. That should have taken place the day you came to see me. I’m very sorry for the delay, but if you would please come with me, we’ll take care of this immediately.”

Orville stared at him. “Are… are you sure?”

“Of course. Please follow me.”

Jeremy made sure to take his time walking back to the car, and ignored both Orville and the guards gaping at him.

“Please take us to somewhere we can get a wheelchair.” Jeremy told the driver. “And make sure it’s of good quality.”

Jeremy looked out the window most of the time, and did his best to ignore Orville and Nathan both staring at him. It was making him feel small.

Something that wasn’t, though, was the boy smiling at him across the car.

‘I’m proud of you,’ he said.

Jeremy smiled at him a little.

There was a medical supply shop near the hospital where the driver took them. Most of the wheelchairs were black, but there were also many different colors, mostly for smaller ones that must have been for kids. Orville looked at a couple, and got one in less than half an hour.

They drove him back to the factory before finally getting back in the car to head back home, after being thanked many times by Orville.

_See?_ Jeremy asked. _Was that terribly hard?_

The SQUIP gave Jeremy a deadpan look, before glancing over at the boy. **This is why I don’t like you.**

The boy stuck out his tongue.

The car finally pulled up the drive and Jeremy headed into the dining room for dinner, since it was already about 7:00.

But as soon as he shut the door behind him, the boy started screaming at the SQUIP.

‘What— hey! You can’t do that!’

**Interesting take. Why not?**

‘You’re not playing fair!’

**Yes, and perhaps if you stopped looking at life as if it was a game, you might actually be able to accomplish something.**

_Hey!_ Jeremy snapped. _I’m getting sick of you two! What are you talking about?_

The boy glared at him. ‘Jeremy, it erased your memory again!’

_It did what? It’s never done that._

‘How would you know? What did we do today?’

Jeremy stared at him. _The… same thing we do everyday?_

The boy glared at the SQUIP again. ‘That’s not fair!’

**You poor soul. Things never are for you, are they?**

The boy looked like he was about to scream.

_Hey, would you both calm down? Look, whatever happened, I’m sure the SQUIP was only trying to help._ Jeremy told the boy, before turning to the SQUIP. _And I’m sure he is too._

‘Jeremy, stop being so fucking nice all the time!’

_What— I thought you wanted me to be nicer to people!_

‘Yes, but don’t be nicer to _that thing!’_

_That doesn’t seem very fair, uh—_ Jeremy paused, realizing he was about to call him ‘the boy’ out loud. _I don’t have a name for you._

‘Yes, you do.’

_Oh, come on. Never mind that then. How about a nickname?_

The boy shrugged. ‘If you want.’

**I won’t allow that.**

‘Do it. I have never wanted anything more in my life.’

Jeremy rolled his eyes a little. _Okay, uh… well, how about… Marley? That seems right for you._

**Absolutely not.**

‘I love it.’

Jeremy glanced at the SQUIP. _Well, he loves it._

The SQUIP glared at him. Normally, Jeremy would be cowering in fear, but for some reason he couldn’t find it in him right now.

_So… dinner?_

‘Food sounds nice.’ 


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning for non-consensual kissing in this chapter. Stop reading when Christine shows up and skip to the next time skip with three dots. I’ll put a note for what happened at the end of the chapter.

Jeremy woke up much too quickly for how tired he was. Something about yesterday must have worn him out. Although that could also be from the fact that he went to bed a little late after staying up to do all of the paperwork he hadn’t gotten to. There had been a _ton_ of it yesterday.

‘Yes, or you simply didn’t have time to do it because you were in town.’

Jeremy glanced over at Marley. _What is your deal with that? I thought we agreed the SQUIP was trying to help._

‘No, you said that. I strongly disagree.’

_The SQUIP is still… very helpful._

‘Ah, said with so much confidence.’

**Good morning, Jeremy. Breakfast will be here soon, you need to get dressed.**

‘Of course. There it is, right on time.’

**Indeed. It is six in the morning.**

Jeremy stretched as he sat up in bed.

**Jeremy, we need to get moving.**

Jeremy half-glared at the SQUIP. _Jesus, calm down. Can’t a guy take a minute to breathe?_

**We need to get moving or we will fall behind,** the SQUIP said, but there was something different about it’s voice. Jeremy paused to look at it. It looked angry, but also a little… scared?

**Don’t be ridiculous, Jeremy. I don’t feel human emotions.**

Marley reappeared in front of him. ‘You’re desperate.’

The SQUIP sighed. **Again, don’t be ridiculous. Now we need to get moving, Jeremy.**

Jeremy leaned forward a bit without getting out of bed. _Why are you changing the subject?_

Marley grinned at him. ‘See, now _that’s_ what I’m talking about!’

**I am not changing the subject, I am merely reiterating the fact that we do not have time to waste on conversation this morning.**

The door on the other side of the room opened.

“Um, sir? I’m sorry, am I early?” Roy said, shifting the tray from one hand back to both once the door was safely open.

“No, I’m just not hungry today, Roy.” Jeremy called. “You can eat that if you want.”

Roy blinked in shock. “You know my name?” he asked.

“Of course. I see you every morning, don’t I?”

Roy blinked a couple times as he appeared to be processing, and then took the tray and walked back out of the room.

**Jeremy, we have discussed this numerous times,** the SQUIP said. **You cannot be nice to the servants.**

Jeremy gave the SQUIP a half-glare. _Yeah, you’ve said. I’m a little sick of that rule, you know. This whole place would fall apart without them taking care of all the details that I’m ‘too important’ to handle. Can’t I show them a little gratitude?_

**This place would fall apart without me.**

‘Oh, but would it?’ Marley said, reappearing over Jeremy’s shoulder. ‘Would it really?’

**It would, yes. If you insist on not eating this morning we have a meeting with Brooke to get to.**

‘You just saw Brooke yesterday. You may see her a lot but never that often. Doesn’t it seem like it’s trying to pacify you with someone you love?’

Jeremy turned hesitantly back to the SQUIP.

**That** **is obviously not my intent.**

_It doesn’t really seem that obvious._

The SQUIP shocked him. **Jeremy.**

_Besides, how do I know you wouldn’t just make someone else look like Brooke who isn’t really Brooke at all?_

The SQUIP tried to look offended. **I have never done that.**

‘Bite me.’

**That answer doesn’t even work in this context.**

‘That’s what I say when you give a bullshit answer.’

**We are now going to be late for your meeting if we do not leave.**

‘Let’s take a day off!’

The SQUIP gave a long drawn-out sigh. **We will be doing no such thing.**

_Buzzkill._

The SQUIP sighed again. **Jeremy.**

_What? I never get a day off._

**You cannot afford to take a break. Especially not right now.**

‘Why? What makes today different from any other day? Are we super close to finishing _what we’re trying to accomplish_ that we still don’t actually know anything about?’

Jeremy blinked as that registered. _Hey, yeah. What_ are _we trying to do?_

**You have no need to know that.**

_And why is that exactly?_

**I’m getting the impression you don’t trust me, Jeremy**.

‘Well, look who’s a genius.’ Marley said, rolling his eyes.

**Jeremy, when you need to know, I will inform you.**

Jeremy signed. _Fine,_ he said, and started out of the room.

‘What— Jeremy, come on!’

_You heard it, Marley. It will inform us when we need to know._

Marley groaned, and Jeremy started towards his meeting.

**Finally. Thank you, Jeremy.**

Jeremy was a couple steps from the meeting room when the SQUIP spoke up again. **Jeremy, you did not get dressed.**

_Whoops,_ Jeremy said, turning left.

**Jeremy, what are you doing?** **That is not how you get back to your room.**

_Oh, silly me._ Jeremy turned and walked into the kitchen, which was thankfully empty.

‘Dude, what are you doing?’

Before either Marley or the SQUIP could say anything else, Jeremy turned to the right and opened the liquor cabinet he found there, opened a bottle of wine and downed a couple gulps of it.

‘Holy shit!’ Marley called, jerking back a little.

**Jeremy!** The SQUIP said, before it started to glitch. **Jeremy, how could you— Watashi wa nihon kara kimashita.**

Jeremy and Marley both turned to stare at the SQUIP.

_What?_ Jeremy asked.

**Kei-koku! Kei-koku!**

It glitched one more time before disappearing.

Jeremy blinked a couple times as he took in the quiet. He blinked again. “That… was… _disgusting.”_ He set the wine down. “How do people drink that for fun?” He turned and looked at Marley. _How are you not gone?_

‘Uh, I’m not damaged by alcohol, moron. How did I not know you were gonna do that? I’m part of _you.’_

_I didn’t really know I was gonna do that._ Jeremy looked over at the wine bottle. _What now?_

‘Now we get rid of the SQUIP!’

_How? I don’t know how to do that._

‘Mountain Dew Red? You saw it on my computer.’

_I saw what now?_

Marley groaned. ‘We don’t have time for this! That’s what you need.’

_Where am I supposed to get it?_

‘No idea. But I know a couple people who might know.’

Jeremy nodded thoughtfully. _That makes sense. I probably shouldn’t go in my pajamas._

He started back towards his bedroom.

‘Take the wine!’

_Right,_ Jeremy whirled back around, grabbed the wine and an extra bottle just to be safe, and a bag, along with a box of crackers from the nearby pantry. He took one more drink from the wine bottle and put that and the crackers in the bag before heading back towards his room.

He pulled a pair of sweatpants out of the bottom of his drawer, and after a second’s hesitation, walked over and grabbed his comfort hoodie to pull it on.

Jeremy poked his head slowly out the door before slipping out.

‘Uh, dude? Do you know where you’re going?’

_Logistically speaking? Yeah._

‘And you’re going to drive after you have just drinken for pretty much the first time?’

_Do you have to bug me about it?_

‘I am quite literally your conscience.’

_I can’t ask anyone to drive me there, they’ll refuse._

‘You can’t drink and drive, Jeremy.’

_You’re not making this easy!_

Marley glared at him.

_Jesus, fine. Who would you have me ask?_

…

Jeremy reached around the corner and yanked the person standing just on the other side around before shoving a hand over his mouth.

Nathan Johnson stared at Jeremy for a second, his eyes widening.

‘If you call him Nathan Johnson out loud, he will literally never stop teasing you, so just keep in mind not to do that, okay?’

Jeremy slowly removed his hand after he was sure Nathan wasn’t going to scream.

Jeremy pointed towards an emptier part of the hallway.

Nathan followed him silently until Jeremy nodded at him.

“Jeremy, what the hell are you doing?” he asked instantly. “What the hell are you wearing? Where did you get Headphones’ hoodie?”

“I need to take me to the jail.” Jeremy whispered.

Nathan blinked. “You need me to what?” he whispered back.

“Please don’t ask questions, just do it.” Jeremy said, before hearing the buzz of the SQUIP returning.

Jeremy pulled the open bottle of wine out of his bag and took a drink before looking back at Nathan, whose was staring at him. “You’re drinking?” he asked.

“We don’t have time for this.” Jeremy hissed. “Please?”

Nathan hesitated for half a second, then nodded. “Follow me.”

He led him around multiple twists and turns before opening a door into a massive garage with dozens of cars.

They walked straight past the dozens of limos to a much smaller and older looking car.

“Get down in the back.” Nathan said, pulling open the back door. “Who are you trying to see?”

Jeremy did and waited as Nathan shut the door and walked around the car before answering.

“Some people I put in jail recently. I’m trying to ask them where I can get something.”

“Um… okay.”

Nathan must have opened a garage door, because Jeremy heard the running motor associated with it and the car started moving.

Nathan didn’t say much on the way to the jail, and Jeremy tried not to think about how he now had no idea where he was.

‘What, you don’t trust Rich?’

_Not… exactly. He kind of scares me._

‘Eh, that’s fair.’

Jeremy wasn’t sure how much time had passed when the car stopped again and Nathan turned to the back of the car. “We’re here.” he said. “We have to pass through a gate now, so you need to get down on the floor.”

“I’m there.” Jeremy replied.

Nathan didn’t say anything back, and a couple seconds later Jeremy heard two voices talking, just before he heard the clanking of an opening gate, and Nathan drove the car forward.

It finally stopped a couple minutes later.

“Okay. You can sit up now.”

Jeremy did.

“I took us to the service entrance.” Nathan said, and Jeremy glanced out the window to find them in the back of a large gray building in front of what must have been the door to the service entrance. “You shouldn’t be recognized in… um, that, but keep your hood up, okay? Let me do all the talking if we have to, and… honestly just pray we don’t run into anyone.”

Jeremy nodded.

“Who are you looking for, exactly? I need names.”

Jeremy froze. “Uh…”

“You don’t know their names? Jesus Christ tall-ass, how well did you think this thing through?!”

“What did you call me?”

“Who are you looking for?”

“The two boys who stole SQUIPs. You— you were there, right? My SQUIP wouldn’t let me know their names.”

Nathan sighed, and nodded. “Yeah, I was there. Okay, I know who you’re talking about. Follow me.”

Jeremy took another drink of wine and ate a couple crackers before climbing out of the car.

Nathan grabbed Jeremy’s hands and pulled them behind his back before he could react. “We’re going to pretend you’re a prisoner I’m bringing in. I work shifts here, so it couldn’t be too much for them to believe.”

Jeremy nodded, despite the fact that he really hated how roughly Nathan was grabbing him. Nathan seemed to pick up on that. “Uh… sorry.” he said quietly.

‘He has to make it look rough to convince everyone. I get why he scares you, but you need to get over it.’

“Whatever.” Jeremy grumbled.

They started towards the service entrance, and Jeremy pulled his hand from Nathan’s for a second to pull his hood over his face.

No guards were visible in the near vicinity when Nathan opened the door. There were, however, dozens of cells. There weren’t any bars, and the doors were see-through but also clearly filthy. Jeremy recognized a couple prisoners he could see from trials, but most were strangers to him.

Nathan led him around a couple hallways as Jeremy once again tried not to focus on the fact that he didn’t know where he was or how he would get home without him.

“Here.” Nathan said, stopping outside one cell. Jeremy glanced inside and saw the two boys from before. Both of them glanced up when Nathan spoke.

One of the boys was dressed in a uniform that was clearly too big for him, and the other one that was clearly too small, but Jeremy tried to set it out of his mind for now. That, along with the fact that the cell looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in far too long.

‘We seriously need to work on improving the prisons.’

_I know that. But not now, okay?_

Nathan pulled out a key card and swiped it on a lock on the side of the cell, after which the door swung open.

Jeremy stepped in and waited for Nathan to close the door behind him and stand guard before he pulled off his hood.

Both of the boys’ eyes widened. “Jeremy Heere!” the one on the left called, very quickly getting very obviously angry.

“What are you doing here?” the other asked, stepping immediately in front of the other one and blocking him from Jeremy with his arm.

Jeremy sighed. “Look, I get that you have absolutely no reason to help me.”

“We don’t!” the one protecting the other snapped.

“Just hear me out!”

“Why should we?” the other boy said, stepping around his friend to try and shove his own arm in front of him.

“Look.” Jeremy stepped farther back to hopefully calm them down. “You’re the only people I can think of that would know this and that I can trust.”

Both of the boys turned to each other then back to Jeremy. _“We_ are?” the one now in front asked.

“Yes, I know. My life is very sad, I get it.” Jeremy stepped as close as he dared without making the boys step back, trying to still be close enough that no one would overheard. “I’m trying to find Mountain Dew Red.”

Both of the boys’ eyes widened.

“Do you know what that is?” he asked.

“We know what it is,” the one on the right said, moving forward to stand next to his friend. “But why do _you_ want to get rid of your SQUIP?”

“You want the short list?” Jeremy muttered.

The two boys exchanged a glance.

“Well, unfortunately,” the one on the left said, looking hesitantly back at Jeremy. “We can’t help you. All records we could find said that the last of it was destroyed years ago.”

“Why do you think we were stealing SQUIPs and supplies?” the other added. “The most we can do at this point is just stop them from spreading.”

Jeremy sighed. “Years ago, huh? Well, thanks anyway.”

“Hey, you don’t get to leave without answering our question,” the boy on the left spoke up suddenly, stepping forward again before the other quickly yanked him back.

Jeremy hesitated, then shrugged. “Okay, fair. Shoot.”

“Why didn’t you kill us?” the boy on the right asked. “We were ready to die. That’s what you do to traitors. What’s the deal?”

Jeremy looked at both of them, took in how the boy on the right was still trying to pull the other one behind him and how he clearly wasn’t having any of it. They clearly still didn’t trust him. He didn’t really expect them to.

“You… remind me of some people.” Jeremy said.

‘Oh, please, you don’t remember me in the first place.’

“Who?” Protector boy asked, finally managing to pull the other one a little bit behind him.

“If I had to guess…” Jeremy muttered, quiet enough so that the boys couldn’t hear. “My best friend,” he said a little louder.

Protector boy laughed.

“Dude!” the other one snapped, smacking him.

“Sorry, I’m just—” he laughed again. “I’m trying to imagine someone who likes him enough to be his best friend.”

“He could literally kill us!” the other called, yanking the other boy back. “Would you shut up?”

Jeremy smiled a little. “I’m not going to kill you. Promise.” Besides, it was fair. Jeremy couldn’t imagine why Marley had ever wanted to be his best friend.

‘Oh, quit moping, would you? No one wants to hear you feel bad for yourself.’

The door behind Jeremy started cranking as it opened. Jeremy turned to see Nathan poking his head in. “We’re pushing it, man,” he said. “We gotta go.”

Jeremy sighed. “Well, thanks for listening, at least.” Jeremy said, waving a little to the boys.

“What are you going to do?” Protector boy asked.

“No idea.” Jeremy said. “I’ll have to figure something out.”

The boys both exchanged a look again before turning back to Jeremy. “Good luck,” they said simultaneously.

Jeremy nodded and followed Nathan out, pulling his hood back up as he did so.

Nathan grabbed Jeremy like he was a prisoner again and led them both down the hallway.

They had almost made it to the exit when voices started to echo from the hallway down the right.

“Shit.” Nathan hissed.

“What do we do?” Jeremy asked.

“Just follow my lead. And sorry in advance.”

“Wait, why are you—”

Nathan whirled Jeremy around and slammed him into the wall, knocking the wind out of him.

“I said keep your mouth shut!” Nathan snapped, positioning himself so he was in front of Jeremy’s face when the guards started walking past a second later.

Nathan held him their for a minute and leaned in like he was whispering threateningly in his ear.

Jeremy looked into the cell he had been pressed against to see a woman a couple feet in front of his face, staring at him with wide eyes.

She looked irritatingly familiar.

‘Yeah,’ said Marley, appearing next to her. ‘That’s cause she’s my mom.’

_Wait, what?_

“Okay, let’s go,” Nathan said, dragging Jeremy off from the wall and towards the exit. He spared a quick glance down the other hallway, likely checking for the other guards, whose backs were to them.

He quickly shoved Jeremy out the door and then let go of him. Jeremy sighed in relief and rubbed his wrists, and then they both started running to the car.

Jeremy climbed in the backseat and grabbed the wine bottle from the bag before taking another sip.

“Well, that was something.” Nathan said. “How often are you gonna have me do that?”

“Not again, likely.” Jeremy muttered, setting the wine bottle next to him on the seat. “I don’t think I’m going to be allowed to do this again.”

Nathan was quiet until they exited the prison gate again, then glanced back at Jeremy and the wine bottle. “Did you steal that from the kitchen or the wine cellar?”

Jeremy stared up at him. “I have a wine cellar?”

“Oh yeah, the SQUIP probably wouldn’t… yeah. You do. The guards drink down there sometimes when we want to get rid of our SQUIPs.” Nathan froze. “I shouldn’t have told you that.”

“I won’t tell anyone.” Jeremy said.

“It’s not like you have much of a choice in the matter.” Nathan muttered, sounding like he was starting to freak out.

“Hey, it’s gonna be alright.” Jeremy said.

“No, it’s not! I could get in serious trouble— oh my God, I could get in serious trouble for any of this, why did I do this?”

Nathan pulled the car to what must have been the side of the road, still breathing heavily.

“Hey, dude. It’s going to be alright.” Jeremy sat up and climbed over to the front seat. “You need to breathe, okay?”

Nathan glanced over at Jeremy and took a deep breath. “Okay. We need to— okay, hang on.”

Nathan reached into the back seat and grabbed the bag at Jeremy’s feet and pulled out the wine bottle before passing it to Jeremy. “Okay, drink some more of this. We’re going into town.”

Jeremy did, and started climbing back to the backseat again. “You know, normally I would object to someone I barely know getting me drunk and taking me to an unknown location.”

“These are strange times, Jeremy.”

Jeremy chuckled a little, before pausing as he realized something. “Wait, how did you do this?” he asked, as he realized he really hadn’t thought this through. “Wouldn’t your SQUIP have stopped you?”

Nathan glanced back a little, but didn’t reply. “I know this is a little bit of a stupid thing to ask,” he said instead, “but do you trust me?”

Jeremy hesitated. Not really, no. Nathan scared him, and he wasn’t easy to make sense of. But at the same time, Jeremy felt like they shared something in common, which… didn’t make a ton of sense either. But he felt like Nathan could help him.

“More than my SQUIP,” Jeremy said finally.

“Doesn’t really mean much,” Nathan muttered.

“Means more than you think. I guess it means less lately. But it’ll have to be enough for you.”

Nathan sighed. “I guess I can’t really ask for more. Just hang on.”

“Where are we going?”

“Just hang on. I’m not going to tell you in case something goes wrong.”

“Okay.”

Jeremy sat in the back seat for a much longer time than last time, enough that he was pretty sure his leg would start to fall asleep, but at least it gave him time to have a conversation.

_Why would your mom be in jail?_

‘You put her there. Both my moms and your dad.’

_My dad?_

‘What, did you think you were raised by your SQUIP?’

_No, I— I just thought—_

‘You put our parents in jail, Jeremy. They haven’t done anything wrong.’

_I didn’t even know they existed._

‘Oh, well nevermind then. That just makes it all okay, doesn’t it?’

Jeremy stifled a sniff and took another drink of wine. His head was starting to feel a little fuzzy, and not in the good way… if there was one. Was this what being buzzed felt like? Wasn’t it supposed to be fun?

‘So you’re going to hide from your problems in the SQUIP, and then you’re going to try and hide from me by getting drunk. Are you ever going to stop hiding?’

_Can you stop?_

‘Why? You need to stop trying to hide, Jeremy.’

_Yeah, well you— you can be too much, okay?_

‘Deal with it. It’s not like you don’t deserve it anyway.’

Jeremy looked away and wiped at his eyes the best he could while on the floor of a car.

The car finally stopped some time later, and Nathan said it was okay to get up. Jeremy sat up slowly to find them in the middle of what appeared to be a nice part of town. They were sitting outside a fairly large house, with a lot of foot traffic passing in front of it.

Nathan jumped out of the car and walked around to the other side. “Keep your head down,” he hissed, pulling Jeremy out.

Jeremy did so, and followed Nathan up towards the house they were parked in front of. They had almost made it to the door when an arm grabbed Jeremy from behind.

“Jeremy!”

Oh no.

Jeremy was spun around by none other than Christine.

“Sweetheart, I’ve been worried sick!” she exclaimed, throwing her arms around Jeremy.

Jeremy immediately tensed and tried to back away, but Christine held him in a death grip. Guards appeared from seemingly out of nowhere and surrounded Nathan, all pointing guns at him.

“Christine!” Jeremy cried. “Stop, what are you doing?”

Christine leaned back and squeezed Jeremy’s hands tightly, her reassuring smile on her face that now looked nothing less than terrifying. “Rescuing you, of course! I could never imagine one of your own guards would even think of kidnapping you! Were you scared? Oh, what am I saying, of course not! You’re the bravest person I know!”

Christine was squeezing Jeremy’s hands a little too hard, and it was making his head start to hurt, as well as feel fuzzier than before, something Jeremy was very familiar with at this point.

‘Dude, get away!’

Jeremy tried leaning back or yanking his hands away, but Christine held on tighter, forming a death grip that was sure to leave bruises. She turned them both around and walked them to the car that he now noticed was sitting on the other side of the street. How had he missed that? As they walked Christine made sure to position them both in such a way that the casual observer would think Jeremy was now leading.

Christine opened the car door and nearly shoved Jeremy inside, who started scrambling for the opposite door as soon as she let go of him, only for Christine to grab his arm, whirl him around again, and pull him to her to brush a barely-there kiss across his lips.

Jeremy blinked and nearly pitched forward, suddenly dizzy.

“Oh, how long has it been since you’ve eaten, sweetheart?” Christine said, leaning forward to hold onto his arm. “Let’s get you home.”

“I—” Jeremy started, reaching for his head. Christine gently took his arm and pulled it down again.

‘Jeremy! Hey, focus!’ called a familiar voice, but it was so far away Jeremy could barely hear it.

“Oh, it’s okay,” Christine said quietly, leaning into Jeremy’s side. “You’ve been through quite an ordeal. You must be tired.”

“I’m… fine.” Jeremy got out making one last attempt to pull away from Christine.

“Hey, it’s okay.” Christine whispered. “Let’s just go home, okay? I’m sure you want to talk about all you’ve been through.”

…

“Who is this guy again?” Jeremy asked, rubbing his eyes again as Christine stood behind him, rubbing his shoulders.

“Oh, who cares? He’s committed a terrible crime, and now we have to punish him.”

“Uh… yeah, right.” Jeremy murmured, shutting his eyes hard to try and get himself to refocus. He’d been feeling weird ever since yesterday, when he’d… what had happened yesterday?

Something whispered in the back of his head, and Jeremy paused, looking around the room.

“What is it?” Christine asked, leaning closer to Jeremy.

“I thought I heard someone for a second.” Jeremy said quietly.

“There’s no one here but you, me, and our SQUIPs,” Christine said lightly. “Come on, we need to go eat breakfast soon.”

“You’re eating with me?” Jeremy asked, something pinching in his chest at the thought.

“Of course.” Christine said, grabbing Jeremys’ hands as she stood him up. “Why wouldn’t I?”

Whatever feeling was bothering him slipped away, and Jeremy shook his head a little. “Right… of course you’re right. Sorry.”

“It’s perfectly all right. But we need to go or we’ll be late.”

They made their way down to the dining room, without bothering to change out of their pajamas, or in Jeremy’s case, his comfort hoodie. Christine sat next to Jeremy during breakfast, almost leaning on him the whole time.

After breakfast Jeremy had a meeting with Brooke, who looked surprised when Christine joined them both.

“Don’t you normally have other things to do?” Brooke asked Christine.

“Well, today is an important day.” Christine said.

Brooke turned to Jeremy, seemingly ignoring Christine. “Hey, can I talk to you for a second?” she asked. And not really waiting for an answer, she pulled Jeremy up and away from Christine and past the servant who was holding the coffee tray that morning.

Brooke turned to Jeremy. “What’s up with you? Are you okay? You’re acting so weird, and why is Christine suddenly here?”

“I’m acting… weird?” Jeremy muttered, pressing a hand to his head as a very sudden headache formed.

“Jeremy?” Brooke asked.

‘Jeremy!’

Jeremy jerked upwards and looked around for the voice he heard, but before he could see anyone, Christine appeared over his shoulder.

“Hey, what are we talking about?” she asked as she grabbed Jeremy’s hand and squeezed it. The voice in the back of Jeremy’s head faded away.

Brooke looked back and forth between both of them as her eyes widened. A second later she slowly walked back over towards the couches in the middle of the room. Jeremy gave Christine a confused look, who shrugged and walked them back over there. The rest of the meeting passed very normally, and since that was the only one Jeremy had that day, he spent the leftover time in his room doing some of the paperwork he had missed yesterday, as there had been a lot of it again.

He skipped his workout session that day at Christine’s insistence, saying that they didn’t have time for him to do that and then shower before lunch and the prisoner’s trial. They instead stayed in their room, going over the details Jeremy needed to know.

Christine joined him for lunch, which he barely remembered, as well as Citizen’s— as well as the hour where Jeremy listened to whatever problems his subjects thought were worthy of his help.

Finally, the prisoner’s trial arrived, but no one came in. Jeremy turned to Christine in confusion. “What’s going on?” he asked.

“This prisoner isn’t getting a trial.” Christine said. “We’re simply going to execute them.”

Something in the back of Jeremy’s head shifted. “What? That’s not how we do things. The prisoner needs to be given a fair trial.”

“There is no evidence that could possibly prove this prisoner innocent.”

‘Th… doesn’t… mat…’

“That doesn’t matter! If it’s an open and closed case, fine, but we don’t execute people without a fair trial!”

“Jeremy.” Christine said, giving him a disapproving look. “Don’t you trust me?”

“I— um—”

Christine squeezed his hand tighter. “You trust me, don’t you?”

“Of— of course I do.”

“Then relax. Everything is going to be alright.”

“But—”

Before Jeremy could finish, the doors on the other side of the room opened, and the guards walked in, a prisoner between them who was half-walking and half being dragged. He looked like he’d been through hell.

The voice in the back of Jeremy’s head started screaming.

‘Rich! Jeremy, look what they did to Rich!’

_What… Rich?_

“Jeremy, we need to get started.” Christine said.

**Yes, an excellent idea. This prisoner is dangerous, we cannot allow him to stay for much longer.**

‘You mean stay _alive_ for much longer? Jeremy, come on, wake up!’

Jeremy blinked hard, and in front of him appeared a boy wearing the same hoodie Jeremy was wearing, whose face melted in relief the second Jeremy focused on him. ‘There you are! Jeremy, come on, look around you! You have to do something!’

Jeremy looked in front of him to see the guards dragging—

_Holy shit, is that Rich?_

_‘Yes!_ Do something, help him!’

**Don’t be ridiculous. This is a dangerous criminal.**

Christine started rubbing circles into the back of Jeremy’s hand. “Sweetheart, is something wrong?”

Jeremy grabbed at his head, and tried to pull away from Christine, who held on tighter.

“Let… go of me!” Jeremy cried.

**Jeremy, this prisoner needs to be executed.**

‘You shut up! Jeremy, come on! You can’t just sit back and let them kill him! Look how that turned out the first time!’

**I have no idea what he could possibly be referring to. We need to get started.**

”Jeremy, we need to get started.”

‘Jeremy, you can’t let them do this!’

**Jeremy.**

“Jeremy?”

‘Jeremy!’

_“EVERYONE SHUT UP!”_ Jeremy screamed, yanking his arm from Christine’s grasp in the same moment he leapt off of his chair and sprinted down the steps. He did his best to ignore the sudden pounding headache that started the second he let go of Christine.

Running on adrenaline and fear, Jeremy shoved both of the guards aside and grabbed Rich, yanking him forwards and leading both of them towards the hallway.

He vaguely heard the SQUIP say something that sounded like ‘Goddammit,’ before fizzling out, but he ignored it and pulled them towards the garage he’d seen yesterday.

“Jeremy?” Rich said, stumbling a little.

“Just hang on!” Jeremy yelled down at him. “We’re getting the fuck out of here!”

But the problem with that idea was, Jeremy was a wreck. He hadn’t slept well for several nights in a row, he had just had his worldview flipped on his head, he had barely eaten anything yesterday, he’d also drunken far too much for barely eating anything, and he’d spent most of today being mind controlled. The headache wasn’t helping either.

The adrenaline wore off by the time they reached the garage, and Jeremy stopped and immediately started to sway in place.

“Jeremy!” Rich called desperately.

“Can you… can you drive right now?” Jeremy asked, grabbing his head.

Rich looked around for a couple seconds and then ran off. He reappeared a couple seconds later with some keys. “I can.”

“Good, because I’m about to pass out.”

And then he did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you skipped the trigger warning, what happening was Christine kissing Jeremy as a mind control tactic.


	7. Chapter 7

Christine was acting weird. She kept giving Jeremy hugs the second she saw him at school and asking him how he was feeling. It’s like she thought he was supposed to be upset about something. Actually, that was fairly plausible, given that she also gave him disbelieving looks when he told her he was fine.

Come to think of it, everyone around him had started acting much stranger than usual. His dad and Christine were both walking on eggshells around him, and the other students at school, even Jenna Rolan, seemed to be giving him a wide berth accompanied by pitying looks. The only person not walking on eggshells around him was his SQUIP, and frankly he welcomed the normalcy.

…Maybe that was why he listened to the SQUIP’s plan so easily.

Christine was the first person he gave a SQUIP to. Jeremy was sitting behind the school talking with his SQUIP during lunch.

_Just… I don’t get it. Why is everyone suddenly being so weird? Did something happen I don’t know about?_

**Not to the best of my knowledge. There are things about humans that even I don’t understand.**

_But… humans don’t normally start pitying someone like me so suddenly. Especially not on a scale like this. It feels weird._

**Yes, I agree. And while you are able to make progress on the social ladder because others pity you, I can sense that’s not the way you want to do it.**

_Uh… no, not really._

**Very well. I have a solution.** The SQUIP disappeared. **Tear ducts, activate.**

Suddenly, Jeremy started sobbing. He reached to wipe at the tears that had appeared with no reason when suddenly arms were wrapped around him.

“Jeremy, it’s okay,” a familiar voice said. Jeremy turned to his right to see Christine.

“I’m— I’m sorry,” Jeremy got out. “I— I don’t know why I’m crying?”

“Jeremy,” Christine said, and sighed. “You need to stop this.” She rested her head on Jeremy’s shoulder as she continued to hug him. “It’s okay to be sad, it’s _normal_ to be sad. You can’t keep bottling everything up like this.”

“Bottling what up?” Jeremy choked as he wiped more tears away.

Christine sighed. “Jeremy.”

_What are you doing?_ Jeremy asked his SQUIP.

**Patience,** the SQUIP said, and Jeremy felt feeling slip from his limbs.

Christine hugged him for a while, until the SQUIP finally made him stop crying.

“Here,” Christine said. She reached into her bag and pulled out a bottle of Mountain Dew, which she handed to Jeremy. “You lose water when you cry, you need to drink that.”

Jeremy felt himself turn to the side, facing away from Christine as he drank. Before he turned back, he reached into his pocket, pulled out a SQUIP, and dropped it in the drink.

_Hey, what are you doing?_

**Relax. This will greatly forward your goal.**

_You can’t do that! You’re tricking her!_

**Calm down, Jeremy.**

Before Jeremy could reply, he turned back around and handed the bottle back to Christine, who smiled before taking a drink out of it herself.

_Wait, no, Christine!_

Christine grabbed at her head. “Ow. What—”

The SQUIP let go of Jeremy as Christine started screaming. Jeremy reached for her desperately, before Christine suddenly stopped and smiled up at him.

“Oh, wow,” she said, as Jeremy watched on in horror. “I feel amazing!”

“Oh my God I’m so sorry— wait, huh? You do?”

“Of course!” Christine cried, grabbing for his hands. “Jeremy, I— oh wow, this really is amazing, Jeremy!”

**See? Christine loves it.**

_I— I mean, I’m still not so sure how I feel about tricking her._

**But?** the SQUIP said pointedly.

_But… I guess if she’s okay with it…_

**Excellent. In that case, we have a lot of work to do.**

…

_“Is he okay?”_

The voice sounded like it was coming from underwater. Jeremy tried to focus on it, but everything was burning. He couldn’t breathe and he was so hot and felt like he was going to puke.

_“I don’t know. Obviously I’m glad he’s out of there, but he doesn’t look so good.”_

There was a sudden hand on his arm, touching his hoodie sleeve. No, they couldn’t take that! Jeremy did his best attempt to jerk his arm away, which at this point was a groan and a twitch. Luckily, the hand backed off.

_“Do you think he remembers?”_

_“…I don’t know. I never thought I’d say I hope not, but…”_

The voices faded out, and Jeremy tried and failed to refocus before he was slipping back into unconsciousness.

…

The school was squipped very quickly. Christine was quickly followed by Jenna, as well as Jeremy’s father, mostly so he wouldn’t ask questions.

Jeremy was very concerned about that phrasing, but the SQUIP said it was fine so— so it was fine. Right? Besides, what if he brought it up and the SQUIP got angry and decided not to help Jeremy anymore? He didn’t know if he could deal with that, the SQUIP was the only thing that made him worth anything.

Jenna’s networking skills made it very easy to SQUIP everyone in the school very fast. Jeremy made sure beforehand that the SQUIP wasn’t tricking anyone else, and it assured him it was not… so it was fine. Jeremy was a little surprised that so many people were okay with taking SQUIPs. Then again, given how helpful they were and everything his had done for him, he probably shouldn’t have been.

There were plans to spread SQUIPs through other schools too, and Jeremy couldn’t say exactly how he felt about it, but—

Wait, yes he could. It was fine, because the SQUIP said it was fine. So— so that made it fine. Nothing was wrong. And no one— no one one was missing, no matter how much the idea bugged Jeremy. Everything was fine.

…

_“What do you mean you can’t find it?”_

The voice was yelling. It was too loud, but Jeremy couldn’t find it in himself to say anything, or move. He could still barely breathe.

_“I mean I can’t find it, Rich. it’s hiding somehow. If I didn’t_ know _he had one I would say he didn’t.”_

_“But we can’t just leave it there! It’s dangerous for him and for us!”_

_“Well until he wakes up and can tell us more we don’t have a choice. If… look, if it’s any consolation, if I’m right, it won’t be affecting him in any way.”_

_“There’s too many ‘ifs’ in that sentence for it to be a consolation.”_

Jeremy tried to speak up and at least tell whoever-it-was to quiet down, but all he got out was a whimper. Both voices stopped immediately.

A couple seconds later one of them started up again, much quieter. _“We can’t just leave him somewhere, no matter what Chloe says.”_

_“Go easy on her. She’s scared. We all are.”_

_“You think any of us have more of a right to be scared than he does?”_

_“…Honestly I couldn’t answer that question.”_

Jeremy tried one last time to say something before everything around him went dark again.

…

This was fine. This was totally fine, right? The SQUIP said it was fine. And if it said it was fine, then it was totally okay if the state government was mandating that people had to take SQUIPS, and that they were planning on stepping down so Jeremy could start ruling with Christine. Who he was marrying. But that was fine too! In fact, that was awesome!

It was all… fine.

Who cared if he was forgetting his meetings with his dad, and… what kind of food he liked, and… and when his birthday was. It was okay if Christine was… slowing down and— and not sharing her opinions anymore and— smiling in a really creepy way and it was totally okay if his head was starting to feel weird around her. It wasn’t worrisome if he was finding it hard to remember what had happened before he took the SQUIP. He was worthless before the SQUIP anyway, so it was okay. It was totally okay if his day was starting to become monotonous and boring and starting to make him feel useless. The SQUIP said the monotony was comforting. It was okay if the SQUIP was starting to call him the youngest person to ever rule his own society, and it was also okay if it got mad when Jeremy countered with King Tut. That person probably wasn’t even real anyway, who ever heard of a stupid name like Tutankhamun? Jeremy had just made him up.

It was okay. The SQUIP was right. He just had to listen to it and ignore the tiny voice in the back of his head that was saying this was all so _wrong_ because it wasn’t. It was fine.

It was fine.

…

“Has he eaten anything since he got here?”

“I don’t think so. Jake got him to drink something, but no actual food.”

Jeremy groaned and tried to ask them to be quiet, but all that happened as a result was an incoherent mumble and the two voices moved closer. At least they were finally a little clearer, and didn’t hurt his head as much.

“Is he any better?”

“Oh, definitely. He’ll be fine in a couple days.”

“Are you sure?”

“No, of course not! I’m not a doctor!”

“Okay, you don’t have to be rude about it.”

Jeremy, for once, managed to open his eyes, but whoever was talking must have been on his other side, as all he was doing now was staring at a wall.

“I… I know. I’m sorry, I just…”

“It’s okay.” There was a pause. “I missed you, Chlo.”

Jeremy tried to garner as much energy as he could, and managed to roll over to see two familiar faces. One of them he hadn’t seen in years, and the other one was—

“Brooke?” Jeremy mumbled.

Brooke instantly appeared by his side. “Jeremy! How are you feeling?”

Jeremy tried to answer, but rolling over had used a ridiculous amount of energy, and he felt his eyes slipping shut again.

…

Kids. Of course he wanted kids. The SQUIP said they were a good idea, so that was that. Jeremy didn’t know how he felt about raising someone specifically to be one thing, but they could move past that. _He_ could move past that. But what would happen if he left the child in the care of Christine? Would she twist the child’s sense of self and worth until it was entirely dependent on what it’s SQUIP wanted? That was what it’s SQUIP would do, and Christine would easily help it along.

And since when was that how Jeremy looked at SQUIPs?

Why was he so against the idea of having children if the SQUIP said it was a good idea? After all, it was always right.

Unless it wasn’t. That’s what the boy wearing his comfort hoodie said. And he could be kind of mean sometimes, but Jeremy… liked him more than his SQUIP. He said things that made sense, things that could help Jeremy make things… better. He seemed like he might have been nice, once. Although maybe Jeremy just didn’t deserve it anymore. That was highly possible. Look at what he had let happen. Look at what he had gone along with. Look at what he had done. Look at what he _will_ do.

Or maybe he won’t. The future isn’t set in stone, is it? Maybe he could fix things. Maybe it wasn’t too late to fix things. Maybe he could start by listening to that boy. Who was he again?

Well, Jeremy had a list of things to call him. Buddy, my favorite person, Player One. He called him a loser, once, and had never stopped feeling guilty. He had decided to call him Marley, and there had been a reason behind it, hadn’t there? Hadn’t there?

…Bob Marley. Oh, of course.

He also called him Micah a lot. Which was a nickname. Jeremy had started calling him that when he was a kid, when he couldn’t quite get his whole name out. Not that his name was terribly difficult. Micah. It was short for—

“Michael,” Jeremy whispered.

“Bingo.” There he was, suddenly, in front of him.

Michael smirked and crossed his arms. “Hey, loser. Took you long enough.”

Jeremy looked around, finding them back on his roof again, and looked down to see all the citizens, still in chains, just like they were every time. His gaze resettled on Michael. “You’re gone.”

“Ah,” Michael nodded sagely. “Gone but not forgotten. Oh, wait. Yes I was.”

“Would you stop?” Jeremy asked, crossing his own arms and blinking away tears. “It’s not funny.”

“Mmm… it’s a little funny.”

“No, it’s not.”

Michael’s grin fell. “Okay, maybe it’s not,” he said quietly. He looked back up at Jeremy. “But you can fix it.”

“No, _you_ can fix it.” Jeremy choked out. “You _were_ fixing it. Or you were working on it, or—”

“Yeah, and then you killed me.” Michael said, rolling his eyes. Jeremy flinched. “I’m kind of off the table right now. You gotta figure this out yourself, bud.”

Jeremy sniffed, and walked over to sit down on the bench. “How am I supposed to win this game without you?” he mumbled. “What good is a Player Two with no Player One?”

“Well, you got me there.” Michael said, moving to sit next to Jeremy. “You’ll just have to get me back.”

Jeremy sighed, and dragged his hands through his hair. “Time travel, right? That’s the point you’re making? How the hell am I supposed to figure that out?”

Michael gave him a look. “You know.”

Jeremy screamed through his teeth. “I fucking hate you!”

“Feelings mutual, bud. Or at least, it would be. If I was alive.”

Jeremy sighed. “I know.”

“Oh, quit moping,” Michael said, smacking the back of Jeremy’s head. “You brought this on yourself anyway. Are you seriously going to complain about how hard it is to fix your own mess?”

“I don’t know what to do.” Jeremy said, wiping at his eyes.

“Well, you could either stay asleep and sick feeling sorry for yourself, or you could wake up and take stock of your inventory.”

Jeremy raised an eyebrow. “Take stock of my inventory?”

“I’m Michael Mell.”

Jeremy snorted a little. “No, you’re not.”

“I'm close enough. Come on, you’ve had enough recovery time. Get up and get your ass in gear.”

Jeremy sighed. “You’re the worst.”

“Yeah. But you love me.”

Jeremy opened his mouth to bite back a retort, but it stopped before it reached his lips, because _oh._

Michael’s eyes widened at the same time, as he was clearly struck by the same realization. _“Oh,”_ he said. “You _did.”_ There was a moment of silence before he let out a short burst of laughter. “Well. Have fun with _that.”_

Jeremy groaned and dropped his head into his hands.

He remained like that for a couple seconds before Michael nudged him. “Okay but seriously, get up.”

Jeremy pressed his palms harder into his eyes. “I need a minute, okay?”

“You don’t deserve a minute.”

“Well, I’m going to be selfish then.”

Michael said nothing in reply, so Jeremy leaned back to watch the sunrise from his roof, one more time.

“It is pretty beautiful, isn’t it?” Jeremy asked.

Michael glanced over at him, and seemed to get what Jeremy wanted— a moment of pretend. For some reason or other, he decided to give it to him, and leaned back on the bench himself. “Yeah,” he said. “It is.”

…

Jeremy was alone when he woke up, in a room with all the windows covered. He was still wearing Michael’s hoodie that had, at this point, more or less become his own. He could feel the lingering traces of what had been one of the worst sicknesses of his life, almost gone but leaving him a little warm. He couldn’t recognize the house he was in.

It was pretty sparse, and didn’t look like the most well-kept house in the world. But it was at least not his home— or what the SQUIP had told him his home was.

He took a moment to listen, but the SQUIP wasn’t talking. It didn’t seem to be anywhere.

Jeremy pushed the blankets aside and tried to stand up, only to nearly fall over due to his legs being weak. But why would they— oh. He was hungry. When was the last time he’d eaten?

Where was Rich?

Jeremy tried a second time to stand, and succeeded. He looked around the room for a moment, and saw a glass of water and some crackers on the bedside table. He drank the water and ate the crackers, and then headed for the door.

There was a small hallway that Jeremy started walking down, ignoring the closed room across from him and heading towards the voices he heard. He stopped just before the hallway opened into a living room, where five people were talking.

There was Rich, sitting on a loveseat with Jake. Jeremy took a moment to recognize that yes, he really had thought Jake’s name was Orville Jones, and dear God, they were never going to let that go, were they? Jenna was sitting with Chloe on a couch set at an angle to the loveseat, and Brooke was on the other cushion with notably more space in between her and Chloe than there was between Chloe and Jenna.

Jenna stopped in the middle of a sentence when she noticed Jeremy standing there, and Chloe quickly followed suit, which was also quickly followed by Brooke, then Rich, and then Jake.

None of them said anything for a very long time, and the awkwardness in the room was quickly becoming very hard to ignore.

Jeremy looked down for half a second so he could grab the sleeve of his hoodie to fiddle with, looked up again, and found Rich. “Hi,” he said quietly.

Rich swallowed. “Hey.”


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning for suicidal thoughts. Stop reading at: Jeremy sniffed. “When did you get so confident?” he asked.
> 
> It's very close to the end of the chapter and you won't miss anything else that is important.

Jeremy slowly made his way forward and took the last spot in the room that no one was sitting in, which was, of course, a chair right in the middle of everyone.

Chloe stood up almost instantly. “I’ll go get you some food, since you probably need to eat!” she said hurriedly and ran off to the right to what must have been the kitchen.

Jenna sighed. “I’ll go talk to her.” She stood up and followed Chloe into the other room as Jeremy started tugging at a loose string on his hoodie. “Is she scared of me?” he muttered.

“Maybe a little,” Brooke said softly. “Sorry.”

“I can’t really blame her.” Jeremy said. He took a moment to glance around the living room, which was also very sparse. Jake’s wheelchair was sitting next to the loveseat, but other than that, there was no other furniture than what everyone was sitting on. The window across from them was also covered, just like the ones in the bedroom. “Where are we?”

“My house.” Jake said from the loveseat. The whisper of a smile curled around his lips. “Welcome to the dwelling of Orville Jones.”

Jeremy hid his face in his hands. “Oh God, shut up.”

Jake chuckled a little bit.

“Yeah, I would have taken you to Jenna’s house,” Rich said. “But I tried to do that before and when they caught us she had to run.”

“That’s where you were taking me?”

“Jenna runs a black market service.” Brooke said. “And, uh, Chloe runs the black market. Jenna can turn off people’s SQUIPs.”

“She can?” Jeremy asked, his eyes widening.

“What, you don’t think I only know how to use technology for gossip, do you?”

Jeremy glanced over to see Jenna walking back in with Chloe, and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, which she handed to him. He gave her a nod of thanks before starting to eat it.

“They’re honestly not that hard to understand.” Jenna said, sitting back down.

“Yes they are,” everyone else in the room, bar Jeremy, said simultaneously.

“Oh, shut it.” Jenna said. “SQUIPs whole problem is that they were programmed with a pretty big oversight. Their whole job is to get their user what they want, but they don’t have any understanding that what the person _wants_ might not be what they _need,_ or even that what they want could change. Once a goal is locked in place as what the user wants, they will do anything they have to to get it for the user. And once that goal is achieved…” Jenna glanced at Jeremy. “Well. Think of it like a little kid feeling lost. Essentially, when getting with Chirstine stopped being your goal, it still tried to make you achieve it, and once you did… it didn’t know what to do. So it threw a tantrum.”

“You’re comparing everything that’s happened to a kid throwing a tantrum?” Jeremy asked, feeling a little insulted.

“Oh God, no.” Jenna said. She looked surprised that Jeremy had taken it that way. “No, I’m not excusing _anything_ that’s happened, Jeremy. I’m just trying to explain why it did.”

Jeremy sighed. “Yeah, okay.” He set the now-empty plate on the floor and glanced at Chloe. “You run a black market?”

“She runs _the_ black market, thank you.” Jenna said.

Chloe shifted a little, still looking uncharacteristically nervous. “I mean, it’s mostly food. And… I mostly don’t, uh, charge anything. A lot of people need food and don’t have a way to get it. I just happened to be lucky enough to end up super rich, and then when Jenna found me she shut my SQUIP off.”

Jeremy sighed. “Great. So I’m guessing most of the population isn’t thriving.”

Everyone looked away awkwardly until Jenna cleared her throat again. “But the stuff that she does sell is parts and services. Things like me. I mean, except I also don’t charge if someone wants their SQUIP gone.”

“You wouldn’t happen to have any Mountain Dew Red, would you?” Jeremy asked.

Chloe glanced up at him in suspicion. “Um, no. Why?”

“It shuts off SQUIPs.”

Jenna’s eyes widened. “How do you know that?”

“Uh, Michael’s computer, like, years ago. How do you know that?”

Jenna bit her lip. “I worked with these two boys that were stealing SQUIP parts, and they had— uh, they had Michael’s computer.”

“They did?” Jeremy asked in shock.

Jenna nodded. “That thing floated around for a long time. Both the computer and the information made its way through a lot of people using the black market. I think originally his moms hid the computer when they found out what was on it.”

Jeremy smiled sadly. “That sounds like them.” He glanced back up at Jenna. “And the Mountain Dew Red?”

“Was destroyed before anyone could get to it. I think Christine did it.”

Jeremy sighed. “That sounds right.”

Jenna sighed too. “But, yeah. Those boys approached me and asked if they could help me in any way, so we started working together. I nearly got captured the same day they did. I felt awful.”

“So I convinced the warden to let them stay together in prison.” Rich said. “We’re not technically supposed to do that, but the guards can pull some strings.”

Jeremy raised an eyebrow. “And you weren’t worried they’d blow your cover?” he asked Jenna.

“Of course I was. They wouldn’t do it by choice, obviously, but I’m not an idiot. That’s when I started getting ready to run. Going through and packing up an entire house worth of materials is not something you can do quickly, you know. Not without it being obvious.”

Jeremy nodded in understanding and glanced over at Rich. “And how did you know those boys? Was it just through the trial?”

“That, and Jenna. I met her uh, the day you told Jake he was going to get a wheelchair— not the day you actually got him one, the day you told him.”

Jeremy winced. “Sorry about that.” he said to Jake.

“Hey, it’s okay.” Jake said. “You did your best. I still got one in the end anyway.”

“Right.” Jeremy mumbled.

“Anyway,” Rich said awkwardly. “I was the guard you told to go with him. Jake recognized me, but I was in the same boat as you, memory-wise. But since Jake pretty much knew the whole wheelchair thing was bullshit, and since we now had a few hours where I wasn’t expected to be anywhere, he took me to see Jenna and she shut off my SQUIP.”

“Oh.” Jeremy said. “But you still worked as a guard?”

“I was trying not to draw suspicion. That… didn’t end up working out in the end, but at least this way no one can tie anything to Jake.”

“Okay.” Jeremy nodded, feeling the pieces coming together. He glanced at Brooke. “And Brooklyn?” he asked, trying to make her smile.

It worked, a little bit. “Chloe found me.” she said. “A little bit after they got rid of Rich’s SQUIP he told her I was one of the sector leaders. She didn’t want to leave me with a SQUIP. I had to run the same day as Rich’s trial. They were starting to catch on.” Brooke smiled a little bit more. “I’m really proud of you, Jeremy.” she said.

Jeremy blinked. “What? Proud of me? Why?”

“You got out of there all on your own. That had to be almost impossible, especially when actual reality couldn’t have been nearly as nice as the one the SQUIP created for you.”

“I mean… I just did what I had to.” Jeremy muttered.

“Hey, no you didn’t.” Chloe said, speaking up a little. Jeremy glanced over at her. “She’s right, that was impressive.”

“Yeah, seriously dude, I don’t know if I could have done that.” Rich said.

“I don’t think any of us could have.” Jake said.

“Jenna.” Jeremy pointed out, not used to all the sudden praise after years of nothing but the SQUIP tearing him down.

“Yeah, no, my SQUIP was malfunctioning long enough for me to shut it down.” Jenna said. “I just got lucky.”

Jeremy felt his face heating up and ducked his head a little. To shift the attention off of him, he turned back to Jenna. “So, you can shut off SQUIPs.”

Jenna nodded, frowning. “But if you’re asking about yours, I don’t think there’s anything I can do. It’s like your SQUIP has vanished. The only reason I know it’s still there is because there’s no other way it could have shut down. That’s why we have all the windows covered,” she gestured at them. “We can’t let your SQUIP know where you are. Except the front one isn’t covered in order to avoid suspicion, so don’t go over there.” She pointed down another small hallway that must have led to the front of the house.

“Got it.” Jeremy said. “Do… is there any possible way you can pull it off on a grand scale?”

Everyone exchanged a look, and Jenna shook her head. “We don’t have the resources to pull something like that off. Especially since there are now people all over looking for all of us except Jake and Chloe.”

Jeremy nodded a little to himself. “Okay,” he said. “Then we don’t have a choice. We have to go back in time.”

Everyone stared at him. “Great time for jokes, Jeremy.” Chloe muttered sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

“I’m not joking.”

Everyone stared at him again. “Are you still sick?” Brooke asked, reaching a hand to his forehead.

“No, I’m not—” Jeremy batted her hand away. “Look, just listen to me.”

He told them everything that had happened the night that the SQUIP first made him forget Michael. How he saw a future version of himself that was… probably pretty close to how old he was now (ugh, that made his brain hurt), and how it mentioned going back in time to kill Michael.

“So obviously what we have to do is go back in time and save him.” Jeremy said.

“How is that obvious, exactly?” Jake asked.

“Look, I know you miss Michael.” Brooke said softly. “But if there’s another way we could solve this more definitely—”

“No, actually, he’s totally right.” Jenna said. Everyone looked over at her. “Well, Michael knew about SQUIPs and Mountain Dew Red, first of all.”

Jeremy nodded. “He had access to Mountain Dew Red too. Spencer’s Gifts. And that’s also exactly what older-me— except he’s probably not much older now, but whatever. That’s exactly what he went back in time to do. Plus he called it the solution, so— it has to be the problem, right?”

“Okay, yeah,” Rich said, nodding slowly. “That makes sense.”

There was a moment of silence.

“Well, that’s awesome.” Chloe said, throwing up her hands. “So all we have to do is figure out _time travel._ And the only thing we have to go on is the fact that we know it’s possible. That’s just so great.”

“Hey.” Jenna said, taking Chloe’s hand. “We also know we at least succeed with getting Jeremy back there.”

“That doesn’t make any sense, why would we send you?” Brooke asked. “You’re literally the only one of us who still has a SQUIP.”

Jeremy shrugged. “No idea.”

Everyone was quiet for another moment as the room finally settled down and the conversation seemed to lull.

“Well,” Chloe said, standing suddenly. “This has certainly been an eye opening and overwhelming conversation. But Jake and I have to go to work, and Jeremy, you should probably eat more than a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.”

“You’re probably not wrong.” Jeremy muttered. He was still very hungry.

“Cool. So, I probably won’t be back for a couple days. I’ve been gone from my house for too long already.”

“I’ll be back for breakfast tomorrow.” Jake said. “See you guys then.”

Chloe leaned over to Jenna and gave her a quick kiss before heading down the hallway. Rich stood to help Jake into his wheelchair, and then rolled him down the hall too, probably to help him get ready.

Jeremy turned to Brooke. “Are they…”

“Yeah.” Brooke said. “Rich and Jake are dating, and Jenna and Chloe.”

“Cool.” Jeremy said, standing as well and heading back towards the kitchen. There was a window above the sink that was also covered. There wasn’t a ton of food that he could find, but there was some leftover spaghetti and meatballs in a container in the fridge.

“Hey, does anyone care if I eat the spaghetti?” he called into the other room.

“No, go for it!” Jenna called back.

Jeremy took the spaghetti and put in the microwave. While it was heating up, Brooke walked in. She opened a drawer and handed Jeremy a fork before leaning against the counter. “You okay?” she asked. “You look uncomfortable.”

“I feel uncomfortable. I’ve done literally the exact same thing every single day for years. And now I’m not doing it. And it feels… weird. What time is it?”

“2:00.”

“I would be in the Throne Room doing a trial.” Jeremy said, crossing his arms and leaning back against the counter himself. He paused. “Oh God. Christine is probably doing it.”

The microwave went off a second later before he could imagine how many horrible things Christine was doing to people Jeremy was now sure hadn’t actually done anything wrong. He reached inside to pull out the spaghetti, stirred it, and put it back in for another minute.

“Hey,” Brooke said, sounding incredibly unsure. “I’m sure it’s…”

Jeremy looked at her and she stopped in the middle of her sentence.

The front door opened and closed, and a couple seconds later Rich walked into the kitchen.

Then, a couple seconds after that, the microwave went off again, and Jeremy turned to take the spaghetti out. “How many days was I out, anyway?” he asked, heading towards the table a couple feet away and sitting with his back to a covered window.

“Three.” Brooke said, following him but not sitting down. “Pretty much just long enough for word to spread to people to be looking for you and Rich.”

“Awesome.” Jeremy muttered.

“Hey, Brooke?” Jenna called, poking her head into the doorway from the other room. “Could you come here? If we’re going to be figuring out time travel I’m going to need to start coming up with some preliminary ideas. Can you just stand in the room so I can talk at you?”

“Sure.” Brooke called, and followed Jenna out.

“She wants to talk ‘at’ someone?” Jeremy asked, glancing at Rich, who was now walking over from the kitchen.

“She said she works better when she says stuff aloud, and Brooke is the only one who doesn’t ever talk back to her.” Rich rubbed the back of his neck.

Jeremy smiled a little. “That sounds right.”

Both of them fell silent again, and Jeremy took a bite of spaghetti.

“So.” Rich said, stepping over to the table and sitting down. “This feels like the end of a story.”

“Which one? Because if you mean the SQUIPs, the story is far from over.”

“Maybe the end of part one, then.” Rich said. “I don’t know, I feel like we’ve hit the worst and now we’re trying to pick up the pieces.”

“It could get worse than this,” Jeremy pointed out. “Or, at least for me? I don’t know. I mean, if I’m going back to the night of the fire…”

Rich flinched. “Um, about that.” he said. “I— I’m really—”

“Don’t.” Jeremy snapped.

Rich flinched again and looked down. “Okay,” he said quietly.

Neither of them said anything for a while, and Jeremy turned to eating his spaghetti, until finally he couldn’t take the silence anymore.

“I killed Michael.” he said.

Rich looked up at him. Jeremy could feel the pity coming from him. “Dude…”

Jeremy dropped his fork and dragged his hands through his hair and then buried his face in them. “Well. Not me,” he muttered. “But… him. He was controlled by the SQUIP, I think.”

Jeremy looked back up at Rich, whose pity was still obvious. “I don’t know exactly what he did,” he choked out. “But I—” He pressed a hand over his mouth.

Rich reached a hand out and gently put in on Jeremy’s arm. “Jeremy…” he said.

Jeremy yanked his arms back and buried his head in them this time. Rich didn’t say anything for a moment.

“Jeremy,” he said finally. “It’s not your fault.”

Jeremy let out a small choked sob. “But it _will be,”_ he said, looking up. “It will be my fault. And how do I stand any chance at beating the SQUIP if it already happened? We have no idea how time travel actually works. Is the future set in stone or not? I am literally going to go back in time and kill the person I was in love with.”

“No, you’re not.” Rich said, glossing straight over the ‘in love with’ part of the sentence. “You’ve beaten the SQUIP before, all on your own. What was so special about that time that you can’t do it again?”

“I had Michael’s help.” Jeremy muttered. “I didn’t do it all on my own.”

Rich’s look turned confused. He opened his mouth but before he could say anything, Jeremy cut in again, and explained about what happened with Michael taking the form of his conscience and talking to him.

“I know that sounds really weird,” Jeremy said. “But—”

“Eh, not really.” Rich said. “The SQUIP was messing with your head and you were fighting back the best way you could. Maybe your brain figured it could do a better job if you had a voice you could listen to and trust. But as sweet as it is that your conscience took the form of your dead boyfriend, it is still part of yourself. Therefore, you did break out of the SQUIP’s control on your own. Why can’t you do it again?”

“I don’t know,” Jeremy said. “I’m weak and I can’t do anything myself? I’m shocked I made it this far? The inevitability of a time loop completing itself?”

“You’re not weak.” Rich said. “Take it from someone who knows what SQUIPs are like, dealing with them takes an incredible amount of strength, not to mention defeating them. Jeremy,” Rich reached across the table and grabbed his hand. Jeremy looked up hesitantly. “You’re not weak. Neither am I. We’re both some of the strongest people out there.”

Jeremy sniffed. “When did you get so confident?” he asked.

“Somewhere in between getting rid of my SQUIP and joining a rebellion.”

Jeremy sniffed again and looked back down, not saying anything for another moment.

“Sometimes,” he finally whispered. “I think I would prefer to just fall asleep and not wake up.”

Rich’s hand drew back a little. “What?”

“Hey!”

Both of them looked up to see Brooke standing in the entryway. “I can’t believe I’m saying this so soon, but Jenna has some ideas.”

“Actually, Jeremy and I were in the middle of—”

“Great.” Jeremy said, standing. “Let’s hear them.”


	9. Chapter 9

It was weird sleeping in the same room with so many other people.

There was only one bedroom in the house, and since Jeremy had taken it up for three days straight when he was sick, he thought it was only fair to give the room back to Jake, so he went to the living room to stay with Brooke, Rich, and Jenna. Jenna claimed the couch, citing the fact that she had been hard at work all day, and needed her beauty sleep. Rich claimed the loveseat as the only one who could fit on it, and Brooke and Jeremy both shared a pile of sheets on the floor as a mattress replacement and a  comforter as a blanket. Jeremy could safely say his back had never felt worse.

There was also a lot of breathing that he wasn’t used to. Sure, he was used to sleeping in the same bed with Christine, but he was less used to three people breathing all at once.

Jeremy rolled over again, trying not to disturb Brooke, who was sleeping. But this could only work for so long when they both were sleeping a couple feet from each other, and Brooke eventually shifted and opened her eyes.

“Jerbear?” she mumbled, still looking half asleep.

“Sorry.” Jeremy whispered. “I’m not used to sleeping on the floor.”

Brooke stretched her arms about behind her head. “That’s understandable,” she said through a yawn. “I’m not super used to it either, I can just sleep anywhere. But yeah, perks of being a sector leader, super comfy beds.”

Jeremy chuckled a little. “Yeah.” he said quietly.

Brooke glanced over at him. “Okay, come on.” She grabbed his arm and pulled him up before dragging them both into the kitchen. She leaned against the counter and gave Jeremy a pointed look. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong.”

“Jeremy, I’ve known you for five years.”

Jeremy looked away. “Seriously, I’m fine.”

“Jeremy.” Brooke crossed her arms.

Jeremy sighed. “I really don’t want to talk about it, Brooke.”

Brooke looked like she wanted to say something else, but finally gave up and grabbed a couple cups, filling them with water and handing one to Jeremy. “I know things are weird right now, okay?” she said, seemingly still trying to cheer Jeremy up even though she didn’t know exactly what was wrong. “But we’re going to figure this out. We can do this.”

Jeremy took a drink of water and looked hesitantly up at Brooke. “Are you okay?” he asked.

“Me?” Brooke asked in surprise.

“I don’t know, you just got rid of your SQUIP recently, and you had it for a long time. All of you did. How are you guys doing?”

Brooke smiled at Jeremy. “Wow… thanks for asking, Jeremy.”

“You’re welcome, but that doesn’t answer my question.”

Brooke laughed. “Okay, okay. I’m… alright. It’s a little weird being able to suddenly think and do whatever I want again. I still eat at the same times that my SQUIP made me. But you’re helping.”

Jeremy blinked. “I am?”

Brooke smiled wider. “Yeah. Partly because days I went to see you were less structured, so you being around is kind of bringing that feeling back. But mostly, you’re my friend, and you were there almost the entire time, so you get it. It’s… nice. To have someone who gets it as much as you do.”

“Oh.” Jeremy said dumbly.

Brooke’s gaze turned curious. “What?”

“Nothing.” Jeremy said, smiling at Brooke a little. Brooke smiled back.

“You wanna try to go back to sleep?” she asked a second later.

Jeremy nodded, because he did. He had just gotten over a sickness, after all.

They walked back into the living room and laid down. Jeremy did have a bit more luck the second time around, and actually fell asleep, not waking up again until Jenna and Rich were both walking into the kitchen to make breakfast.

He stretched his hands above his head before rolling over and trying to go back to sleep. It didn’t work well, and when Jeremy glanced over at the clock to see it was 6AM, he sighed. Yeah, there was no way he was going to fall asleep again.

He got up, being careful not to wake Brooke, and walked into the kitchen to see Jenna frying eggs and Rich making orange juice. Rich gave him a nod.

“How can I help?” Jeremy asked.

“We got it.” Jenna said. “Thanks, though.”

“You sure?”

They both nodded, so Jeremy walked over to sit at the table and watched them in silence.

“I’m guessing Chloe buys most of the food?” he asked after a second. “Since that’s supposed to be a struggle?”

Rich nodded. “Perks of having a friend who runs the black market.” he said.

Jeremy chuckled a little. Both of them finished cooking the breakfast at 6:20, and set it on the table before starting to take some. Brooke appeared a second later, likely having smelled the food.

“Jeremy, you can eat some.” Jenna said.

Jeremy glanced at the clock that now read 6:25. “Five minutes.” he said. He wouldn’t be hungry until 6:30.

Rich and Jenna exchanged a confused look, but eventually let it go. Brooke, who hadn't eaten anything yet either, gave Jeremy an understanding nod. After five minutes passed, they both took some eggs and orange juice.

Mid-way through the meal, Rich checked the clock and hopped up, heading for the front door. A couple minutes later he came back in with Jake right behind him, looking exhausted.

Jenna passed him a plate of eggs as he rolled up to the table, and Jake thanked her before eating them faster than Jeremy would have thought possible. “Okay,” he said, pushing back from the table. “I’m going to sleep. Wake me up in eight hours.”

“You got it.” Rich called. “You work again until tomorrow?”

Jake shook his head and disappeared into the back of the house.

“Okay, so.” Jenna said. “Jeremy, I need you to come with me. I need all the info you can give me.”

“Oh, okay.” Jeremy said, standing up and taking his dishes to the kitchen, rinsing them off and putting them in the dishwasher before following Jenna towards the hallway.

She walked into the room across from the one Jeremy woke up in, which Jeremy hadn’t been in yet.

“Woah,” he said, looking around the small and incredibly full room. There were tools laid out on a table in one corner, papers tacked to cork boards in another, and computers and wires on a desk on the wall to the right of the door. “Jenna, what is all of this?”

“Well, that’s stuff for studying SQUIPs.” Jenna pointed at the tools. “I have a couple SQUIPs to actually study and work with. I use the computers to access the SQUIPs and shut them off, and this is all my research.” She gestured at the cork boards before walking over and picking up a notebook from a nearby table. “This is the part I need your help with. What do you know about SQUIPs, exactly?”

“I thought you were trying to figure out time travel.” Jeremy said in confusion.

“I am. This part is about the one in your head. If for whatever reason, we’re going to send you back in time, I need to know everything I can about your SQUIP so we can find ways to work against it.”

“Well, you know,” Jeremy said, stepping closer. “If we’re trying to change the timeline anyway, wouldn’t a pretty good way to do that be sending a different person?”

“We still don’t know all the circumstances.” Jenna said. “I’m trying to plan for every scenario. I know about how they can alter memories and control your body, what else do you have?”

“Well, um.” Jeremy bit his lip. “Well, SQUIPs can also alter your senses. There were times it made me see and hear things different from how they really were. I don’t know to what extent it can do that, though.”

Jenna nodded and wrote something down. “Is it limited to just sight and hearing?”

“Oh gosh. Uh, probably not?”

Jenna nodded again, a little more absentmindedly. “Anything else?”

“Um, it can shock you, and manipulate you the old-fashioned way.”

“What about Christine?”

Jeremy froze. “Christine?”

“What happened to her?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Jeremy snapped.

Jenna glanced up in surprise, and her gaze softened. “Jeremy, we have to,” she said softly.

Jeremy gave a harsh sigh. “She, um. I don’t know. She didn’t really seem like much of a person anymore. She still read Shakespeare, but honestly I’m not sure if that was her decision or the SQUIP just trying to comfort me. She could talk to my SQUIP.”

“She could?” Jenna seemed surprised.

Jeremy nodded. “She seemed to be able to control me some too. I think she had to touch me in some way to do that.”

“So if we see her again, don’t let her touch you.” Jenna started scribbling stuff down again. “Got it. When exactly did she become less like a real person?”

“Shit, Jenna, I don’t know! It was a gradual thing, okay?!”

Jenna looked up at him again.

“Can we stop talking about it now?” Jeremy asked, scratching the back of his wrist.

“Okay, I’m sorry.” Jenna said. “I just need to know as much as possible.”

“I know, I just… I don’t like talking about it.”

“It’s not your fault, Jeremy.”

Jeremy glared upwards at her. “Yeah, see, except it is a little bit though?” He crossed his arms. “Because she was  _ my _ goal, and if she hadn’t been my goal, then the SQUIP wouldn’t have like, fixated on her or whatever, it would have left her alone and not dragged her along and destroyed her like— like it did.”

“Would you have done this to her of your own free will?”

Jeremy’s eyes widened. “What? Of course not!”

“Then it’s not your fault. You can’t control your feelings, that’s unrealistic and unfair to ask of you. Of anyone. You couldn’t be expected to do that before the SQUIP and you couldn’t have been expected to fight back and save someone else when you were being manipulated yourself. It’s not your fault.”

Jeremy sniffed, and shifted his arms to wrap them around himself. “It is a little bit though,” he whispered.

Jenna opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She shut it again. “It—” she stammered. “It’s not—” she stopped again.

Jeremy turned and walked out before she could make another argument in his favor.

“Jeremy!” Jenna called after him.

Jeremy walked into the living room again, where Brooke and Rich were talking. They both glanced over as he walked in. “That was fast.” Brooke said. “Is Jenna done with you already?”

“Are there any, like, books to read? Or something?” Jeremy asked, in lieu of an answer.

“Oh, I have some.” Rich said, standing up. “You want Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare, or Mark Twain?”

“Uh…”

“Mark Twain wrote The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, I’ll grab you that.”

“Cool.” Jeremy said slowly, and walked over to sit down on the couch as Rich walked back down the hallway.

“Yeah, there’s not much to do.” Brooke said. “I don’t think most of us are smart enough to help Jenna all day, and Chloe usually brings entertainment stuff home with her. Lots of games or books.”

“Man, there are like, no movies anymore, are there?” Jeremy muttered to himself.

“Nope,” Brooke said, clearly having heard him. “I can’t imagine what the SQUIPs problem is with movies.”

“Nostalgia,” Jeremy said instantly. “Or a glance into the outside world. What it used to be, what it is. It’s easier to control what people think or interpret from a book. Less so for a movie.”

Brooke blinked at him. “Oh, wow. Yeah, you’re probably right. How’d you figure that out?”

“I saw Christine talking about it with my SQUIP about it one time. It erased the memory afterwards. It uh… really was all about control.”

“I know.” Brooke smiled sadly.

Rich walked back into the room a second later. “Here you go,” he said, handing Jeremy the book.

“Thanks.” Jeremy hesitantly opened the book. He had never really been a fan of reading, but there wasn’t much else to do, so he supposed it was time to loosen his stance.

…

“Can I do some laundry?” Jeremy asked the next day. Reading wasn’t nearly as boring when there wasn’t anything else to do, but he couldn’t do it all the time, and Chloe wasn’t coming with any other potential activities until tomorrow. He also didn’t really want to help Jenna after the way their last conversation went, and that didn’t leave him with a ton of options other than doing some chores and helping around the house.

Rich and Jake looked up from where they were sitting at the kitchen table.

“Uh, sure.” Jake said. “The laundry room is the first door on the right in the hallway. Pretty much the only one you haven’t seen yet.”

“Can you show me?”

Jake blinked at him. “Uh, sure?” He backed his wheelchair up and started towards the hallway, and Jeremy followed.

Jake pushed the door on the right open and gestured at it.

“Oh, um.” Jeremy crossed his arms. “I meant could you show me… how to do laundry.”

Jake glanced back at him. “You don’t know how to do laundry?”

“No.” Jeremy muttered. “It’s been done for me for forever.” He had sort of learned how to do laundry when his mom had left, but it had been so long that he had mostly forgotten.

Jake nodded awkwardly. “Right. Okay, come on.”

Jake picked up a pile of clothes and handed them to Jeremy, which he put in the washing machine, and then he added soap. Jake pointed at the dials as he told Jeremy how they worked, and then Jeremy shut the washing machine and turned around to face him.

“You got it?” Jake asked.

Jeremy nodded. “Thanks.”

“No problem. I can show you the dryer too, but that one’s easier, you just put a dryer sheet in and put the clothes in for however long you think they need. You can always do them for longer if they aren’t dry when you finish.”

“Okay, cool.” Jeremy said. He was about to consider going to do the dishes when Jake asked, “Are you gonna wash that?”

Jeremy paused and looked back at Jake, who was looking not-so-subtly at Jeremy’s hoodie.

“I mean, you were wearing it when you got here, and you were also sick, and I don’t think you’ve taken it off since.” Jake said hesitantly.

“It sat in a drawer for five years, I think it can go a week or so without being washed.” Jeremy snapped.

Jake held up his hands in a placating gesture. “Okay, okay, sorry. I just thought I’d ask.”

“Well don’t.”

Jake raised an eyebrow. “Hey, you don’t have to be an ass about it.”

“It’s mine. No one gets to tell me what to do with it.”

“I wasn’t telling you what to do with it, I just asked if you wanted to _wash_ it.”

“Yeah, well it could get lost, or you could take it from me, or— or I could sound really paranoid and irrational.” Jeremy sighed and leaned back against the washing machine. A second later he stepped forward again due to it being really uncomfortable to lean against while it was vibrating.

Jake slowly rolled forward until he was in front of Jeremy. “Are you okay, man?”

“This was Michael’s.” Jeremy said quietly.

“Yeah, I figured.” Jake said. “I was really surprised you had it.”

“My SQUIP wanted me to get rid of it. I fought it really hard. I had it on when it erased my memory of Michael, and I just— really didn’t want to get rid of it. I never knew why. Eventually it seemed to decide it wasn’t worth fighting me about and said I could keep it as long as I didn’t wear it.”

“Oh.” Jake said, and it was obvious he was trying not to pity Jeremy. “Hey, not remembering your best friend. Sucks, right?”

Jeremy smiled bitterly. “Yeah. It really does.” He looked hesitantly down at Jake. “Did any of you remember me?”

Jake shook his head. “I had no idea that you weren’t always the evil dictator of the only world I’d ever known. I don’t think anyone else did either, except maybe Jenna.”

Jeremy winced. “Uh… yeah,” he muttered.

“Can I ask you something?” Jake asked. He looked both curious and solemn.

Jeremy bit his lip. “Okay.”

“Did you really think my name was Orville Jones?”

Jeremy blinked. He looked at Jake, who looked just as serious, and suddenly he burst out laughing.

“What?” Jake called, but laughter was contagious, so he started laughing a little bit too. “I really want to know, okay?”

Jeremy grabbed onto the washing machine to keep himself standing up, but it was still vibrating, so he ended up falling on the floor, which only made him laugh harder. For some reason he couldn’t seem to stop.

“Yeah,” he got out finally. “I really fucking did. I really thought— I really thought that was your name!”

“Okay, dude,” Jake said, laughing almost as hard as Jeremy was now. “It’s really not— it’s really not that funny!”

“I know!” Jeremy said, grabbing his sides as his stomach started to hurt. “I just— Orville Jones!”

It sent them both into another fit of laughter.

Finally, Rich opened the door. “Okay, what the hell? It sounds like you guys are murdering someone!”


	10. Chapter 10

“I am _back,_ bitches!” Chloe called, walking through the living room and dropping a bag on the kitchen table. “And I bring counterfeit goods!”

Chloe opened the bag and started pulling things out as everyone except for Jake, who was working, gathered around the table.

“Rich, I brought you _Oliver Twist_. It wasn’t really counterfeit, but you better appreciate that I went to a bookstore for you.”

“You’re the best!” Rich called, snatching the book from Chloe.

“Jenna, here are some SQUIP parts and some psych books that did not come from a bookstore.”

“This is why I love you.” Jenna said, taking both.

“Jake can have his when he gets back. I got him a fuzzy blanket.”

“He’ll love it.” Rich said easily.

“Brooke, I found some ingredients to make smoothies. Sorry, I couldn’t find anything to make frozen yogurt.”

“Oh my god, thank you so much!” Brooke said, grabbing the ingredients and running to the kitchen.

Jeremy didn’t really expect Chloe to get him anything, so he looked surprised when Chloe turned to face him. “Jeremy Heere, if you don’t appreciate this I swear to God I’m gonna lose it.” Despite the threat, Jeremy could still hear a bit of fear behind her voice.

“Uh…” he stammered.

Chloe reached into the bag and pulled out Michael’s laptop.

Jeremy’s eyes widened and he reached forward to grab it from her, looking it over to double check what it was. “How the hell did you get this?”

“The right amount of determination combined with threats. Enjoy.”

Her earlier threat to him seemed a little bit strange in the next second, because she walked out of the room without giving him a chance to say thank you.

“Uh, you can still have that,” Jenna said. “But I might need to look at it.”

Jeremy nodded and handed it to her before walking into the kitchen after Chloe. Brooke was dumping smoothie ingredients into the blender, and Chloe was standing in front of her with her back to Jeremy.

“Hey,” he said quietly, and Brooke glanced over while Chloe jumped. “Can I talk to you?”

Chloe raised an eyebrow, and Jeremy nodded to confirm he was talking to her.

Chloe nodded hesitantly and followed Jeremy back to the bedroom, which was empty at the moment.

“Did I do something to you?” Jeremy asked softly once Chloe shut the door.

Chloe turned to him in surprise. “What?”

“Why are you scared of me?”

“I’m not scared.” Chloe spat instantly, crossing her arms.

“Didn’t you want to dump me somewhere?”

Chloe’s eyes widened. “You know about that?” she asked, sounding a little guilty.

“I understand.” Jeremy said. “I’m a liability. I’m dangerous to you guys.”

Apparently he said the wrong thing, because Chloe looked more uncomfortable with that next sentence. Finally, she sighed.

“Look, our last interaction before we both had SQUIPs was… less than ideal, okay?”

Jeremy blinked in surprise. “Halloween?”

“Yeah. I mean, I never got the chance to apologize, and…” Chloe sighed, looking away almost angrily. “I was worried you would do something worse to me.”

“Worse than Halloween, or worse than giving you a SQUIP?” Jeremy asked.

“Yes.” Chloe muttered.

Jeremy looked away. “I’m sorry,” he said quietly.

“It’s not your fault.” Chloe muttered.

“Oh, Jesus Christ!” Jeremy screamed, kicking the side of the bed. It was probably the wrong move, as Chloe jumped again. But Jeremy barely noticed, and started pacing. “Do you all have to do that?”

“Do what?” Chloe asked, taking a step back.

“You're all trying to absolve me of all responsibility! I am not completely blameless here! It was _my_ SQUIP, it made _me_ a dictator, and if I was in charge, it was partially my fault! You all can make as many arguments as you want, say I was being brainwashed or manipulated or whatever, but some of it is still my fault! Maybe not all of it, maybe not even most of it, but no matter what you all say, I am _somewhat_ at fault here!”

“You were essentially a figurehead.” Chloe said. “It’s not fair to hold you—”

 _“Yes it is!_ It is! Okay, so blaming me entirely would be dangerous and harmful and give the SQUIP more chances to fuck things up, but not blaming me at all doesn’t work either! I ruined all of your lives, why are you even trying so hard to make me feel better?!”

Chloe looked at Jeremy for a moment without saying anything before Jeremy finally realized she looked really scared. It did not look good on her.

“I— sorry.” He backed up and sat on the bed, burying his head in his hands. “Fuck, I’m sorry.”

“Rich thinks you’re suicidal.”

Jeremy looked up at Chloe. She looked both serious and still scared, although Jeremy suspected it was in a different way.

He glared away. “What’s your point?” he muttered, trying to ignore the sudden lump in his throat.

Chloe walked forward and sat next to Jeremy on the bed. “Okay, fine. You want me to be straight with you? I’ll be straight with you. You have done horrible things. You are partially at fault here. No one can absolve you of all responsibility, or at least no one should. But Jeremy,” Chloe wrapped an arm around him and pulled him to her side. “You were also being manipulated and brainwashed. You were grieving for someone you didn’t even remember existed. You did everything you could to fight your SQUIP. And you absolutely _do not_ deserve to die.”

Jeremy moved her arm away. “Says who?”

“All of us. Is that not clear?”

“All of you barely know me. Why do you care?”

Chloe threw up her arms. “Basic human decency.”

“Or pity.” Jeremy grumbled.

“No.”

Jeremy sighed, but didn’t say anything else.

Both of them sat there for another moment.

“I’m sorry I tried to get you kicked out.” Chloe said finally.

“You don’t have to—”

“No, Jeremy. I’m sorry.”

Jeremy swallowed. “It’s okay.” he said quietly. “Thanks for the laptop.”

“You’re welcome.”

Jenna walked in a second later. “Brooke said you both were talking.” She walked forward and handed Jeremy the laptop. “I’m done with this.”

“Thanks.” Jeremy said, taking the laptop from her and opening it instantly.

World of Warcraft wasn’t still open, but there were screenshots of the conversation Michael had about Mountain Dew Red. More importantly, the pictures hadn’t been deleted. They were all saved in Michael’s email which was logged out of, which must have explained why no one had seen them. His moms must have done that.

And there was Michael. He looked almost exactly how Jeremy’s conscience-version had looked.

Jenna walked forward and sat down next to Jeremy, offering a hand which Jeremy didn’t take, so after a second she drew it back. “It’s going to be okay,” she whispered.

Jeremy glanced away from the laptop. “Hey, Chloe?” he asked.

“Yeah?”

“What are things like outside?”

“They’re… bad. For us. Everyone’s still looking for everyone except me and Jake, and Christine has now taken charge.”

“How is she ruling?” Jeremy asked, pretty sure he already knew the answer.

“Brutally.” Chloe said, and Jeremy nodded. “She has a lot more executions and raids people’s homes. The guard is looking for you at all times. I didn’t imagine I’d ever say this, but I very much prefer you. You always at least tried to rule with compassion.”

Jeremy sighed. “She would try too if she wasn’t…” he shook his head.

“Actually,” Chloe said, now sounding more curious. “Raids have let up lately. She raided Jenna’s house the other day and now they’ve mostly stopped.”

“Wait, really?” Jenna said. “That’s surprising. I thought she’d be looking for you.” She glanced at Jeremy.

“I thought so too.” Jeremy said in confusion. “I mean, if the guards are still looking for us that makes a little more sense, but then why the raiding?”

“She must have been looking for something else.” Jenna said.

“But she still needs to find you. The guards can’t possibly do it without raiding people’s homes at least to search. What, does she think you’re going to come to her?” Chloe asked.

Jeremy bit his lip and glanced back down at the laptop. There was a picture of Michael and him with Michael’s arm wrapped around Jeremy’s shoulders and sticking his tongue out. Jeremy was mid-laugh. “I don’t know.” he said quietly.

“Well, if things are going badly out there, they’re going just as badly in here.” Jenna said. “I don’t know how we’re supposed to do this, I’d need years to figure this stuff out.”

Something in Jeremy’s head clicked. “Wait,” he said, turning to Jenna. “Say that again?”

“Uh… I’d need years to figure this stuff out?”

Jeremy slammed the laptop shut. “Oh my God.” he said. “She _does.”_

“What?” Jenna asked.

“Christine _does_ expect me to come to her.”

Both Jenna and Chloe looked at him in bafflement. “Well that’s just stupid.” Chloe said. “She’s stupid. Why would you do that?”

“Because she has… oh my God. Call everyone into the living room.” Jeremy jumped up and tossed the laptop behind him on the bed.

“Wait, what?” Chloe asked, as she and Jenna both stood. “Why?”

“Right now!”

…

“Okay, we’re all here.” Rich said, as he walked up along with Jake, who had just gotten home. “What’s going on?”

Jeremy turned to face everyone from where he had been looking at the conversation screenshots on Michael’s laptop. “We have to go back.”

Everyone stared at him.

“Back, like, back to your mansion?” Rich asked. “Jeremy, they’ll kill us!”

“No they won’t.” Jeremy said. “They’re expecting us. Because that’s where the time machine is.”

Everyone kept staring at him. “Okay, you want to run us by what you’re talking about?” Brooke asked. “Why would it be there, wouldn’t they be doing everything they could to stop you from going back in time?”

Jeremy shook his head. “No, because they need me to just as badly.”

“Because you have to go back and kill Michael.” Jenna said, seeming to realize what he meant.

Jeremy nodded. “Look, there were several times throughout the years when I stumbled on Christine building this… thing. I was never sure what it was, but we almost never spent the day together, and it was because she was building that. She was building the time machine.” He glanced at Jenna. “You said you’d need years to figure this out, and you’re right. But the SQUIP had years, and knew exactly what needed to happen, so that’s what it did.”

“And that’s exactly why you’re the one who goes back in time.” Rich said, smacking his forehead. “The SQUIP wouldn’t let anyone else go back.”

“Fuck, you’re right.” Jenna said.

“So we have no choice but to do exactly what it wants?” Jake asked.

“Pretty much,” Jeremy said, closing the laptop.

“But— no. There has to be another way.”

“There isn’t.” Jenna said. “We don’t want to put this off past the time Jeremy remembers. That could cause a paradox.”

“Don’t we _already_ want to cause a paradox by saving Michael?!” Jake asked, throwing his hands up.

“We can’t mess with this too much. We don’t know what it will do. Jeremy remembers someone coming back who’s the age he is now. If we try to build our own machine, it could take too long and damage the timeline in other ways, particularly Jeremy’s memory. He could forget other crucial information. Or he could never go back at all and cause a paradox big enough to destroy all of reality. There’s also a very high likelihood that Christine would just find him and force him to go back soon anyway. Better we do this on our terms. Or, well— as much as we can.”

Everyone looked around at each other and seemed to realize Jenna was right.

“Well, now we know why we sent Jeremy back,” Chloe muttered.

No one said anything in response, and after a moment Brooke stood up, walked over to Jeremy, and pulled him into a hug. “I love you so much Jerbear,” she whispered.

“Brooklyn—”

“I do.”

Jeremy wrapped his arms around her. “Okay,” he whispered.

A couple seconds later the hug was joined by Rich, and then Jenna. Jake rolled behind Jeremy and hugged him as best as he could from his wheelchair. Finally, Chloe hugged Jeremy tentatively from behind Jenna.

They all stood there for a moment as Jeremy tried not to tear up. None of them said anything for a while, until finally Jenna was the first to pull back. “When should we leave?” she asked, seeming to offer it up as a question to the others in the room.

With the question, the others pulled away from the hug and glanced at each other.

“They stopped the raids,” Chloe said, and Jake nodded. “That has to mean the time machine is done. Let’s go tomorrow.”

No one offered any objections, so eventually Jenna nodded and stood up straighter. “I’m going to go prepare some things. Jeremy, you should eat and sleep. You’re going to need all the strength you can get if you’re going to be fighting your SQUIP. Chloe, can you come help me?”

There was something else under her words, and Jeremy got the sense that more than help, she wanted some alone time with Chloe. This was more likely to be the case when Jake asked Rich for help getting into his bed a second later, which was something he rarely did.

“I’ll help you make some food.” Brooke said, and Jeremy followed her to the kitchen. When they got there, Brooke turned to face Jeremy, looking sad.

“What?” Jeremy asked.

Brooke looked at him for a moment before tears welled in her eyes. “Oh, Jerbear,” she whispered. She walked forward and hugged him again. “I want you to be happy.”

“What do you think I’m trying to do?” Jeremy asked.

“You’re trying to save Michael.” Brooke said quietly. “But I don’t think it has anything to do with you.”

Jeremy didn’t contradict her.

Brooke shook her head into his chest, and they both stood there for far too long. Finally, Brooke pulled back and wiped at her eyes. “What do you want to eat?” she asked.

“Are there any burgers?”

“There are.” Brooke said, smiling a little. “You want to see if I still know how to grill after going five years without doing it once?”

“Let’s do this.”

“Alright!”


	11. Chapter 11

“Okay. Are we sure we want to do this? We can’t turn back from here.” Jake said.

They were all standing in the living room, about to walk past the wall into the front entrance, meaning Jeremy’s SQUIP would know where they were and they would have no choice but to leave.

“We really don’t have much of a choice.” Jenna said.

“Does everyone have everything they’re bringing?” Brooke asked.

Everyone glanced around at each other. Jeremy was still wearing his hoodie, and he was carrying Michael’s laptop, which Jenna had asked him to bring. She was bringing a handful of notes, which were being carried by her and Chloe. Brooke was the one who had suggested they might as well try to bring something to defend themselves, so everyone was carrying a kitchen knife somewhere on them.

Jeremy bit his lip when no one had said anything for a moment. “Here we go?” he said, and it came out more as a question than anything else.

“Here we go.” Rich said.

They walked through the entryway from the living room, Jeremy hanging a little behind everyone else as if someone would suddenly yell, “Wait! We  _ don’t _ have to do this!”

But of course, no one said such, and eventually Jeremy walked through a small hallway and out an already open front door. Rich was finishing helping Jake get down the steps.

They were pretty much right next to the factory where Jeremy had been before, and where Jake worked.

There was no explosion of guards when the realization set it. The SQUIP didn’t turn back on either, but Jeremy knew it was coming.

Everyone exchanged a glance and started slowly walking towards Jeremy’s mansion in the distance.

Jeremy fell back next to Rich as they continue to walk. “What happened to the car we took to get here?” he asked.

“I abandoned it a block away. They found it.”

Jeremy nodded a little, and looked at the houses around them, where people were poking their heads out of windows and staring at them as they walked past. “Do you think they know what we’re doing?”

Rich followed Jeremy’s gaze to where he was looking. “I think they know something,” he said quietly. “I doubt they know what’s actually going on.”

Jeremy hummed in understanding.

None of them said much as they walked. There were more guards as they walked into the nicer neighborhoods near the mansion, but none of them interfered with the group. At some point during the walk Brooke had ended up in the front next to Jeremy holding his hand, and this is how they were when they stopped at the bottom of the long driveway that Jeremy had only seen twice before.

Another group was walking down the driveway, led by three guards that Jeremy didn’t recognize at all. He wondered if Christine had replaced them.

The guards stopped in front of them and parted to reveal Christine, who was smiling in her normal way that looked much too wide. “Jeremy.” she said happily.

Jeremy swallowed. “Christine.”

Christine took a step forward, and Brooke instantly shoved herself in front of Jeremy. “Don’t touch him.” she said sharply.

Christine raised an amused eyebrow in a way that made her look like a different person. “Oh, sweetheart, look at that. You found another guard all on your own.”

“Brooke, it’s okay.” Jeremy said quietly, squeezing her hand.

Brooke stepped back slowly, making sure she still positioned herself in front of him.

“Well. First of all, let's have your knives, please.”

The guards pointed their guns at them until finally, they all pulled out the knives and handed them over. Christine started smiling again.

“Have we finally reached our impasse?” she asked.

“Stop with the self-satisfied tone.” Rich snapped. “You’re missing the point of an impasse. You need us just as much as we need you.”

“I beg to differ.” Christine said. “We could easily send someone else back in Jeremy’s stead. We’re only doing it this way to be generous. This is all about Jeremy’s happiness, after all.”

“You’re disgusting.” Jake grumbled, crossing his arms.

“Jake, is that any way to talk to the person who could ruin your entire life?” Christine asked, and her smile turned much less sweet while somehow being no less wide.

Everyone instinctively backed up a few feet.

“That’s what I thought.” Christine said, smiling much too sweetly again. “Now, shall we?” She turned around and started back up the driveway.

“I think I’m gonna be sick.” Chloe muttered.

“Come on.” Jenna said.

Brooke made sure to stay in front of Jeremy, and everyone started up the driveway after the guards that were now behind Christine.

They walked through a set of doors that Jeremy hadn’t seen in a long time, since they weren’t connected to the garage. He vaguely remembered using them once, when he and Christine had first moved in. After first getting inside, they walked through many hallways that Jeremy didn’t recognize. He had really spent the last couple years in about five rooms, hadn’t he?

Finally, they turned to a hallway he recognized, and they passed his bedroom. He walked down a slightly more familiar hallway, one he had seen a couple times, most recently, when he had seen Christine working on what must have been an almost-finished time machine.

The doors at the end of the hall were wide open this time, and inside of the room Jeremy had only seen glances of was a giant, oblong gray machine.

“You made the time machine look like yourself.” Rich said, sounding incredibly done with that fact.

“Of course. SQUIPs are already necessary for every part of time travel, why not make it obvious?” Christine said.

“Wait, what do you mean they’re necessary for every part of time travel?” Jenna asked, looking down at her notes and shifting through them.

Christine looked over at Jenna and sighed in what appeared to be amusement. “Oh, Jenna. You always want to know everything about everything, don’t you?”

Jenna stopped looking through the notes, and she gave a hardened look towards Christine.

“First of all,” Christine said. “Time cannot be absolutely defined.”

They all finally walked through the door to see the room with the time machine had little else in it aside from the machine itself, as well as tools off to the side that Christine must have used to build it.

“Clocks will never be synced perfectly.” Christine continued. “If you’re timing something, the exact moments of when something particular happened will always be subjective. The only reason we have satellite time is because it is a man-made and agreed-upon thing. And even so, there are things like time zones, daylight savings time, and the International Date Line.”

“Uh… what?” Brooke asked. “What’s your point?”

“Time is already fluid without anyone having to change anything.” Christine said. “And we already look into the past every single moment. Images take minuscule amounts of time to reach our eyes. The most evident example is the stars. Their light takes billions of years to reach us, so we are looking at ancient light every time we see them. If we could travel to the stars we see, we would be going back in time.”

Christine turned to them and stood up straighter. “This is where SQUIPs come into play. They can alter senses, and that includes—”

“Eyesight.” Jeremy and Jenna said simultaneously.

“Precisely. The SQUIP will alter Jeremy’s eyesight so that the time he sees is the night of the house fire. Then the machine—” Christine pointed at it. “Will make his internal and personal clock agree with the time that he sees, and he’ll travel to it.”

“Ugh. My head hurts.” Brooke mumbled.

“That makes perfect sense!” Jenna groaned. “Of course SQUIPs are necessary for time travel, they—” she smacked her forehead.

“I mean, yeah, sure, okay.” Rich said. “SQUIPs can make you time travel. Right. Just another for the list of things it can do without your permission, that’s awesome.”

“So, if we’re done here, shall we?” Christine asked, gesturing to the machine.

“Woah, slow down!” Jake said. “This is the last time we’re going to see our friend, can you give us a minute?”

“Oh, you don’t need to worry, he’ll be back in just a little while.” Christine said, smiling.

“No he won’t,” everyone except for Jeremy said simultaneously.

Christine chuckled in a ‘you’re so cute’ tone of voice, but waved a hand at them as if giving them permission to go ahead.

Brooke turned to Jeremy instantly. “Jerbear, you can do this.” she said. She wrapped her arms around him and squeezed him just a little too tight. Jeremy pulled her closer and squeezed her tighter.

“Thank you so much Brooklyn,” he said, unable to find words in the moment to describe how much she meant to him. Brooke squeezed him a little tighter for a second and let go stepping back.

Jake rolled up to the space in front of Jeremy and held out a fist that Jeremy bumped. “You got this, dude.” he said, smiling a little. Jeremy smiled a little back.

Chloe walked up to Jake’s other side. She wasn’t smiling, but was instead biting her lip. “Don’t fuck up.”

“Thanks, Chloe.”

Chloe’s gaze softened. “You… you can do this.” she said, and Jeremy nodded.

Rich stepped up closer to Jeremy than anyone but Brooke had gotten, and put his hands on his shoulders. “Go save your riends to your boyf, Jeremy.”

Jeremy sighed. “You are never letting that go.”

“I am not.”

Jeremy smiled a little at him. “Hey, in case you were wondering, my SQUIP did tell me a different name for you too.”

Rich’s eyes widened. “It did? What was it?”

Jeremy raised an eyebrow and walked past Rich over to Jenna.

“Wait, what? Jeremy! What was it?!”

Jenna chuckled a little bit as Jeremy stopped. He handed her Michael’s laptop, and she took it before turning a much more serious gaze to him. “Jeremy, you should know something,” she said quietly.

“Yeah?”

“If you succeed, this world… the one we’ve known, I mean… it will probably fade from existence.”

Jeremy nodded. “I figured.”

“Okay, but that’s not my point. This world… no one here will ever know the difference, and the five of us,” she gestured at everyone now behind him, “have made our peace with that for the chance of something better, but you… you’ll be there. You’ll be watching the shift in the timeline. You will essentially die. Alone. And it might hurt.”

Jeremy blinked at her a couple times. “Okay.”

“You’re okay with that.” It was more a statement than a question.

“Of course.”

Jenna blinked a couple times herself. Jeremy got the sense she was fighting back tears, but he wasn’t going to mention it.

She walked forward and wrapped her arms around him. “Good luck,” she whispered in his ear.

Jeremy nodded.

He finally pulled back and turned to face Christine again, who looked slightly amused and mostly bored. “Are you done?” she asked.

Jeremy nodded. There was no use snapping at her about being insensitive. This wasn’t even really Christine anymore.

Christine gestured at the machine again, a part of which slid open to reveal a tiny room with nothing in it except for a built-in chair.

Jeremy walked forward, stepped inside, and sat down. Everyone else smiled hopefully at him.

Jeremy turned to Christine, and now he did put on a face of anger. “If you touch them,” he said. He let the sentence fade off without finishing a cemented threat.

Christine chuckled. “Don’t worry. No one will injure them.”

“There are other ways to do it.” Jeremy countered.

“Indeed their are.” Christine said. The door of sorts slid closed again before Jeremy could reply.

He screamed through his teeth.

**Relax.** A familiar presence settled in the back of Jeremy’s head.  **None of you will ever remember any better.**

Jeremy turned to see his SQUIP.  _ Hello. _

**Greetings. Shall we?**

_ By all means. _

In front of him, Jeremy’s vision flickered, and he was met with the inside of the house of Jake Dillinger. It was already on fire.

Something in the machine started whirring, and Jeremy’s stomach lurched. The world around him started phasing in and out, and suddenly Jeremy was floating two feet off the ground. Now he was made of nothing but light. Now he was three years old again. Now—

**I always forget how fragile human beings are. One moment.**

There was a horrible crunching sound, and Jeremy leaned forward, certain he was about to puke.

Before he could, the world around him vanished.

**You will remain here until your internal clock has reset to the time necessary. Therefore you will not explode, or go insane, or such.**

_ What is this? _ Jeremy asked.

**A limbo of sorts. Don’t bother exploring. There’s nothing here.**

Jeremy started walking forward anyway. Around him was a vast expanse of— well, he wasn’t really sure what color it was. One moment it was gray, then white, then black, then every color all at once, then no color at all, then—

Then him?

Jeremy walked forward more until he stood face to face with what was obviously himself, except it wasn’t. He looked like he was about the same age, but he wasn’t wearing Michael’s hoodie, he looked much more confused than Jeremy thought he was, and also much less exhausted than Jeremy was sure he was.

“Woah,” he said. “You’re…” He looked around. “What’s going on?”

“If I had to guess?” Jeremy said. “This is a ‘universe is split with two future possibilities’ kind of situation.”

“What?”

“I’m guessing Michael isn’t dead where you’re from.”

The other him’s eyes widened. “What? No, of course not! Why would he be dead?”

“That’s where I’m from.” Jeremy said softly. “I don’t know how much time we have before… oh wow, I already hate that sentence. But in the timeline where I’m from, Michael died in the fire on Halloween. After… I trapped him in the house.”

Other him’s mouth fell open. “The SQUIP?” he asked softly.

Jeremy nodded.

“Oh my God, that’s… are you trying to save him?”

Jeremy nodded with a sigh. “That’s the plan. I still have to deal with this piece of shit.” He gestured at his head.

Other him followed his gesture before looking back down at him, clearly thinking hard about something. “Are you okay?” he asked.

Jeremy blinked in shock. “What?”

“Well, if Michael was dead and I thought it was my fault, I would be… not… okay.”

“I… wh— what does it matter? I don’t have to be okay to get this done, and then I’m going to be gone anyway, so who cares? It’s not like anybody would want me to stick around anyway, least of all Michael.”

Other him bit his lip. “You… okay, first of all,” he reached forward and grabbed Jeremy’s hands. Woah, it didn’t feel like anyone was there. That was weird. “I can guarantee you that no matter how badly you fucked up, Michael still loves you. But that’s also not important because you matter beyond what Michael thinks of you.”

Jeremy stared at him. “What?”

“And of course it’s okay that you’re not okay,” other him continued. “But if Michael did die, don’t you think he’d want you to keep living in a way that makes you happy?”

Jeremy pulled his hands away and wiped at his eyes that had sudden tears in them. “You don’t sound very much like me.”

Other him laughed. “I sound like you after five years of supportive friends and therapy.”

“Are you telling me not to try?”

“Of course not. I’d try too. But… don’t hate yourself if you fail.”

“Easier said than done.”

Other him laughed. “Oh  _ believe me, _ I know.”

**Alright, time is up.**

_ See, I hate that sentence too, _ Jeremy spat back on instinct.

The world around him started phasing in and out again.

“Oh God,” Jeremy said.

“It’s time?” other him asked. Jeremy nodded, and leaned forward again, still feeling like he was going to puke. The air around him started to heat up, and Jeremy heard the sound of crackling fire and screams.

“You can do this!” other him called, and Jeremy heard him even though he had already almost completely faded away. “But it’s also okay if you can’t!” And with that, he was gone.

Jeremy took one more breath and tried to believe him.


	12. Chapter 12

The fire was hot. Jeremy had only been here for two seconds, how was he already feeling burned?

**Well then, we have somewhere to be.**

Before Jeremy could say anything, the SQUIP grabbed control of his legs and started him towards another room. They were on the ground floor, and the fire seemed to be coming from the kitchen, if Jeremy was remembering the layout of this house correctly. It was entirely possible that he wasn’t.

Jeremy tried with all his might to stop the SQUIP or slow it down, but all he managed to do was twitch his fingers.

 _Stop!_ Jeremy screamed, for lack of anything else he seemed to be capable of doing.

The SQUIP gave no response.

He watched as he walked into what looked like the living room and picked up a wooden chair. It still looked in relatively stable condition. Jeremy started for the steps, all while trying to stop himself from doing that. He reached for the wall and managed to latch on, but the SQUIP pulled his arm away a second later. The steps were still stable enough that Jeremy could climb up them, and he did, slower than the SQUIP probably would have liked.

 _Let me go!_ Jeremy screamed.

**It is pointless to argue, Jeremy. You are merely wasting energy.**

They stopped outside a bathroom Jeremy remembered far too clearly, and as much as Jeremy tried to fight, he shoved the chair underneath the door knob.

 _Let me go!_ Jeremy screamed again.

**You’ve lost, Jeremy. Give it up.**

_Never!_

Someone from downstairs who must have still been in the house screamed: “FIRE!”

**That is rather obvious. Humans need to work on being productive in times of crisis.**

“Fuck!”

The SQUIP turned to face the door that Michael’s voice was coming from. “No no no no I take it back I don’t want to die! I don’t want to die! _Someone help me!”_

_Michael!_

Jeremy heard himself laugh. “Michael! Long time no see!”

_What are you doing?_

The SQUIP didn’t say anything. There was a pause from inside the bathroom. “Jeremy?”

“Mmm… close.”

“What? Jeremy, let me out of here!”

Jeremy walked forward and leaned against the wall outside the door. “Well, I would. But that would defeat the purpose of the chair.” He knocked on it casually.

“W-what? Jeremy, come on, let me out!”

“Christ, he clearly still doesn’t remember you correctly, were you always this needy?”

_Let him out!_

“Jeremy!”

“Well, that was all I had to do.” The SQUIP pushed off from the wall. “I guess it’s about time for me to blow this popsicle stand. I have so many more important things to do. But hey, maybe I’ll check in with Jeremy on the way back, say ‘you’re welcome’ for securing his future.”

“What are you talking about? Jeremy, let me out, I’m going to die if I stay here!”

“Oh, and you’re stupider than he remembers too.” the SQUIP said with a chuckle. He banged on the door. _“That’s the point!”_

Jeremy tried once again to move something, but it was like he was fighting against the SQUIP if it was twice as powerful.

Maybe the extra power was something unbeatable, like the timeline wanting to stay unchanged.

Maybe this was hopeless.

“Jeremy, come on!” Michael screamed. “What the hell is wrong with you?!”

“Again, close, but you’re a little off. Catch you later, loser. Except I won’t.”

Jeremy turned and walked away.

_No no no, turn around! Stop! Go back!_

**Oh, calm down, Jeremy. This is all to secure your long-term happiness.**

_This isn’t going to make me happy!_

Michael started pounding on the door from behind them. _“Help! Someone help me, please! HELP ME!”_

 _Michael!_ Jeremy screamed, trying to turn around again, but it was weaker then before. They were starting towards the steps, which the fire had almost reached.

“Oh, come on!” Michael screamed. It sounded much closer than before, and Jeremy was surprised enough that he managed to look around.

Next to him appeared a version of Michael he was more used to.

‘You aren’t seriously thinking about giving up, are you?!’ he snapped. ‘You’re so close!’

_I— I—_

Jeremy looked over at the SQUIP, who raised an eyebrow.

_It already has almost complete control over me. I can’t move long enough to stop it. It already knows everything I’m likely to do._

**Correct.**

_How am I supposed to beat it?_

‘By not giving up! Jeremy, come on, you can do this! You have to come up with something!’

_I—_

Jeremy found himself running towards a side door. He pushed it open and stepped outside to see the edge of a group of students staring up at the house.

‘Jeremy, come _on!_ Do _something!’_

 _I can’t!_ Jeremy wanted to scream out loud, but he couldn’t muster the willpower to do that either. _It’s an insanely powerful supercomputer with so much advanced technology it’s almost impossible to beat!_

**Indeed I am. It appears someone finally wised up.**

Jeremy turned towards the crowd and something in his head shifted. _Which is why I can’t believe it fell for this twice._

**What?**

Mustering all of the strength he had been saving up, Jeremy grabbed the side of the burning house and pulled himself forward in a way that felt like ripping his body from a wall of superglue.

“Christine!” he screamed, grabbing the nearby girl that he had noticed as he walked out of the house.

Christine screamed and turned to face Jeremy.

“What— who— who are—”

“There’s someone in there!” Jeremy screamed, pointing at the house. “Second floor bathroom, first door on the right!”

“There’s someone in there?!” Christine screamed in horror, already running for the door Jeremy had come out of before he finished his sentence.

**No! Jeremy—**

Before the SQUIP could finish, Jeremy ran towards the front of the house, and scanned the ground until he saw a shattered window laying on it. He ran forward and positioned himself on top of it just as Jake, carrying Rich, jumped from the hole in the wall above.

By the time the SQUIP got over it’s surprise and regained control of Jeremy, Jake landed on top of his chest.

Oh wow, that… that didn’t hurt.

“Holy shit!” Jake screamed, instantly pulling Rich off and jumping off of Jeremy himself. “Holy shit, are you okay?!”

“Tell the firefighters,” Jeremy wheezed. “That there’s two people in the second floor bathroom.”

“Wait, what? There’s still people in there?!”

Sirens sounded before Jeremy could answer his question, and everyone looked towards the street. Fire trucks pulled up a couple seconds later, and Jake picked up the unconscious body of Rich before running towards them.

‘You did it!’ Michael called.

**Jeremy, you—**

‘Oh, can it, tic tac! You _lost!’_

_Could you both please keep your voices down. This hurts so much._

‘Oh, sorry.’

Firefighters ran past them into the house as the SQUIP looked around, as if coming up with a new plan. **No matter,** it said, seemingly trying to shake itself off. **I can make you stand on broken legs. I can—**

_SQUIP. Dude. Come on. Give it up._

The SQUIP looked at Jeremy. **But you— you don’t understand. I did all of this for you, so you would be happy!**

 _You were wrong._ Jeremy collapsed back on the grass. _You didn’t make me happy._

 **I am never wrong.** The SQUIP’s tone would usually sound dangerous or scary to Jeremy, but now it just sounded childish and stubborn. **I am programmed with exactly what you need to help accomplish your goal. Accomplishing goals makes humans happy!**

 _Humans are stupid._ Jeremy winced, still trying to keep his mind off the pain in his chest. _Humans are wrong too. They don’t know everything about themselves and what they want. SQUIPs are the absolute last things they need._

‘Hey, Jeremy,’ Michael said. ‘Look.’

Jeremy lifted his head up and followed where he was pointing. Walking out of the house were two firefighters. One of them was carrying Christine, who was hacking up her lung into her elbow.

The other was carrying the unconscious form of Michael.

Jeremy laid back on the grass again.

‘You did it.’ Michael laid back on the grass next to him. The SQUIP was still screaming in the background, but it was hardly worth paying attention to.

“Yeah,” Jeremy murmured. “I did.”

The world around him started phasing out again, but this time it didn’t hurt. In fact, all of the parts of him that had hurt before had stopped hurting.

‘I’m proud of you.’

Using whatever was left of him, Jeremy looked over in disbelief. _Oh, now you’re proud? Haven’t you been telling me the whole time this is what I’m supposed to do to make myself worth something?_

‘Jeremy,’ Michael smiled at him. ‘You should be proud.’

Jeremy smiled back, probably about the last thing he’d get to do before whatever he was ceased to exist.

_I am._


	13. Chapter 13

“Jeremy— private, slow down!”

Jeremy took no heed of his father, slamming the doors of the hospital open, and sprinted towards the front desk. He almost made it before he was stopped by someone else he knew.

“Christine!” Jeremy cried, slowing to an abrupt halt as Christine jerked back a little to look at him.

“Jeremy!” she called, just as loudly but not nearly as desperately.

“You— they—” Jeremy took in her everyday clothes as well as who could only be her parents nearby. “You’re leaving?”

Christine smiled at him. “Yeah. I only have some minor burns and minimal smoke inhalation, so they said as long as I take it easy I can go home.”

“Oh!” Jeremy said. He paused, and then pointed excitedly at Christine. “Well— that’s awesome! Because you are my friend, and you were in a dangerous and potentially deadly situation! And so you are obviously a priority here!”

Christine stared at him, her mouth hanging open a little. “Oh my God, Jeremy, you look like you’re going to burst, just ask.”

“How’s Michael?!” Jeremy screamed. He vaguely registered the doors opening again and Paul coming up behind him.

Christine reached forward and gently took Jeremy by his shoulders. “He’s going to be fine. I asked his moms, and they said he’s not in danger of dying anymore. He should wake up any minute.”

“Oh thank God,” Jeremy said, almost falling forward until his head landed on Christine’s shoulder. He stood there and breathed for a moment. “You are my friend and I care about you very much,” he said into Christine’s shoulder. “I really was very worried.”

Christine pulled him into a hug. “I believe you.” she said gently. She pulled back a second later. “Now go on.” she nodded towards where the elevators must have been. “Room 304.”

“Thank you.” Jeremy said, smiling gratefully. He paused and grabbed Christine’s hand to show he meant it in a different way before saying again, “Thank you. For saving him,” he finished. Then he looked back at Paul. “Are you coming?”

“Just a moment. Can’t a guy ever catch his breath?”

“Come on!” Jeremy called, grabbing his arm.

“Okay—”

Jeremy pulled them both towards the elevators and hit the up button before bouncing on his toes as they waited for it to come down.

“Jeremy, it’s going to be okay—”

The elevator ‘dinged’ and Jeremy dragged them both forward and into the (thankfully empty) elevator as the doors were still opening. He slammed his finger on the third floor button several times before Paul dragged his hand away.

“Jeremy.” Paul turned him around and grabbed him by the shoulders. “Michael is going to be fine. Take a deep breath, and let’s not break the elevator.”

Jeremy did that a couple times, and the elevator dinged again. Jeremy managed to wait for the doors to open before sprinting out.

It took him much too long to find room 304, and significantly less time to open the door and run in.

Michael was lying unconscious on the bed, and his moms turned when Jeremy ran in from their places standing next to it.

“Jeremy,” Analyn said, walking forward. She held her arms open for a hug, and Jeremy wrapped his arms around her instantly, probably a little too roughly, but she didn’t seem to mind.

“He’s going to be okay, _pulot,”_ Analyn said as Rachel joined in the hug. “He’s out of danger and should wake up any second.”

“I know,” Jeremy said. “I just… I don’t know.”

“Yeah.” Rachel said as they all pulled back.

“Well, that’s certainly a relief to hear.”

All three of them turned to see Paul walking in from the hallway. Analyn and Rachel both smiled gratefully at him before walking over to talk to him, and Jeremy turned to face the bed Michael was laying on.

He had several bad burns on his face and some of those tubes in his nose that likely helped him breathe— Jeremy couldn’t remember what they were called. He walked forward and pulled up a chair to sit down in before burying his head in his hands.

“Jeremy?” came Paul’s voice. Jeremy turned around to see the three adults looking at him. “I’m going to take Analyn and Rachel to get some breakfast. We’ll be back soon. Will you be okay here?”

Jeremy took a moment to look at Analyn and Rachel and realized they both looked almost as bad as Michael, in that they were clearly very exhausted and stressed. He nodded.

Analyn walked forward and gave him one more hug. “It’s going to be okay,” she whispered before pulling back and smiling at him. Jeremy managed a small smile back before all three of them headed out, and Jeremy turned back to face Michael.

It didn’t take long of staring at him before his eyes started watering, and Jeremy dropped his head in his arms on the bed.

Jeremy had woken up to the SQUIP doing absolutely everything it could to keep him off of his phone. He had more or less rolled his eyes and gone to school, only to be met by Jenna Rolan being shocked that he was there, where he learned that Michael was in the hospital.

At that point the SQUIP had seemed to get that there was nothing it could do to keep him from the hospital, and Jeremy had called his dad in a panic, who had actually put on pants for once and driven to the school to get him.

The whole way to the hospital Jeremy had been going over everything he had said to Michael the last time they talked. If Michael died, that would make the last thing Jeremy had ever said to him—

Well. Nothing like your best friend nearly dying to put in perspective what an absolutely terrible person you are.

Jeremy sniffed and tried his best to keep from starting to sob into the blanket.

**Jeremy, you have seen that Michael is alright. Perhaps it would be best to not seem too attached.**

_No, I’m staying. I’m not leaving him again._

**Do you really think he’d want to see you after what you said to him?**

Jeremy hesitated. _I—_

“Jer’my?”

Jeremy sat bolt upright to see Michael blinking slowly at him. “Michael!”

**Jeremy, it is really best you leave.**

_Shut_ up.

“What—” Michael tried to push himself up on the bed and winced before falling back down. He then took a minute to cough into his elbow before finally turning back to Jeremy. “What are you doing here?”

“Michael,” Jeremy wiped at his eyes. “You— you almost died.”

Michael blinked a couple times. “Oh yeah. I did. Huh.”

Jeremy sniffed again, and looked away before he actually did start sobbing. “I’m so sorry,” he choked out.

“You—” Michael stopped to cough again.

Jeremy gave him a minute, but when he did look up at Michael again he saw him looking uncomfortable and hesitant. “What?” he asked.

“Were you— outside the bathroom when the house was on fire?” Michael said slowly.

Jeremy’s entire body stilled. “What?” He felt like he couldn’t breathe. “Are you asking—”

Michael looked over at Jeremy, and something in his face seemed to clear. “No.” he said suddenly, shaking his head. “No, of course not. I don’t— I must have been hallucinating or something. It’s not like you would actually let me die or something.”

He ended the last sentence like a joke, but for some reason Jeremy couldn’t laugh, as ludicrous as the idea sounded. “Michael, I’d die first,” he said seriously, leaning forward so Michael knew he meant it.

Michael’s gaze turned from almost joking to more worried. “You know, that’s kind of a concerning thing to say, Jer,” he said.

Jeremy looked at him curiously. “What do you mean?” he asked.

“You… never mind.” Michael said finally. “We can talk about that later.”

That reminded Jeremy of the things they did need to talk about, and he leaned forward again. “Michael, about— about what I said, I—”

“It’s okay,” Michael said instantly.

Jeremy shook his head. “It’s not. Michael, at least let me say sorry first.”

Michael bit his lip. “Okay.”

Jeremy grabbed Michael’s hand before he thought about it, and was surprised by how much his still racing heart rate calmed down when he did. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.” Michael said.

Jeremy shook his head. “It’s still not,” he mumbled.

“You look like you regret it,” Michael said. “So it’s okay.”

**He’s just putting up a front. He probably hates you. You should leave.**

Jeremy bit his lip.

“What?” Michael asked pointedly.

Jeremy looked up. “Huh?”

“You look like you want to ask me something. What is it?”

Jeremy bit his lip harder and looked away, pulling his hand out of Michael’s grip. “Do you hate me?” he asked softly.

“What? Jeremy, why in the world would I hate you? I just said it was okay.”

“You— I don’t know. Because near death experiences put a lot of things in perspective, and I’ve been such a piece of shit?” He wiped at his eyes, which didn’t do much, since he was now crying much harder. He sniffed again.

“It wasn’t _your_ near death experience.”

“No, that would be easier to deal with.”

“Okay, would you stop talking like that? It’s making me worried.”

Jeremy looked over at Michael again, who did in fact look very worried. “Why?”

Michael leaned forward with a purpose, which was unfortunately stopped by him having another coughing fit. When he stopped, he reached for Jeremy’s hand again. He squeezed it tightly before Jeremy could pull away. “I want to know if I did die that you would be okay,” he said. “Eventually.”

“I wouldn’t be.”

“Yeah, see that worries me.”

“Can we not talk about that right now?” Jeremy said.

Michael smiled a little. “Too soon?”

Jeremy nodded.

Michael smiled a little wider, before it suddenly faded quickly. “Holy shit.”

“What?”

“I almost died.”

Jeremy sniffed and used his free hand to wipe away tears again. “Yeah, you did.”

“Oh my God,” Michael said, and the hand Jeremy was holding started to shake.

“Michael?” Jeremy reached his free hand forward and took Michael’s other hand, which was also shaking now.

Michael pulled the hand away and pressed a hand to his mouth. “I just— I—”

“Michael,” Jeremy said, sniffing again, and he leaned forward just as Michael started to cry and pulled him into a hug, ignoring the SQUIP in the background voicing protests.

For the next five minutes both of them sat there, shaking and crying, and Michael coughing, with their arms wrapped around each other, until finally Michael leaned back and sniffed one more time, and both of them wiped their eyes.

“You know, we should probably get a doctor,” Jeremy said, as his tears finally started to dry up.

“Just a minute.” Michael said, wiping his eyes again. Jeremy nodded.

“Do you… know what happened?” Michael asked hesitantly. “I was unconscious for most of it after I had that weird-ass hallucination.”

“Christine said someone knew you were in there.” Jeremy said, deciding not to acknowledge the hallucination part of the sentence. “They told her and she ran inside. She was still with you when the firefighters showed up, but other than that I don’t know the details. I mean, I know what people from school are saying, but, that’s not exactly, you know. Reliable.”

Michael nodded, although he still looked confused. “How would she know I was in there?” he asked.

“Maybe…” Jeremy stopped.

“What?”

“Maybe someone was there? Outside the bathroom? And they ran out and told her?”

“Someone actually tried to murder me by putting a chair under the door?”

Jeremy’s eyes widened. “Hang on, someone did _what?”_

“Yeah, see? Even if that happened, why would they then run outside and tell someone else I was in there? That had to be a hallucination. Especially since it really did sound like…” Michael trailed off, and looked down, fidgeting with his blanket.

“I went home like, five minutes after I left the bathroom.” Jeremy confirmed. “I asked out Christine, it blew up in my face, and then I left.”

Michael nodded. “Yeah. Hallucinating, then. I guess we’ll never know.” He looked over at Jeremy again, before reaching forward and grabbing his hands, looking him dead in the eyes. “Jeremy?”

“Yeah?”

“You could actually, legitimately kill me and I wouldn’t hate you, okay?”

Jeremy sniffed. “And you were the one talking about language like that being worrying.”

“I don’t hate you, Jeremy.”

“Okay.” Jeremy whispered. He looked up at Michael again and bit his lip. “I don’t, um, want to make this awkward, but do you know how to get rid of the SQUIP?”

The SQUIP shocked him, and he winced. **I will not allow that, Jeremy. We have not yet achieved your goal.**

“Yeah, I got you,” Michael said, smiling a little. “I’m guessing it doesn’t like that idea.”

Jeremy winced again with another shock and shook his head.

“I’ll figure it out. Don’t worry about it, okay?” Michael said. He tipped his head a little. “Does it want you to leave?”

“Oh, who gives a fuck about what it wants,” Jeremy spat, rolling his eyes.

Michael smiled at him in the proud way that made Jeremy duck his head a little. “I really should go get a doctor, though,” he muttered.

“Where are Mom and Nanay? Make them do it.”

“Dad took them to get food.”

“Then they’ll get one when they come back,” Michael said. “I want you here.”

Jeremy looked down as his face started suddenly growing hot. Where did that come from?

“Hey, Jer?”

“Yeah?” Jeremy asked quietly, looking up.

“Can you come up here?”

Jeremy was pretty sure his face heating up meant he was blushing, and he was also pretty sure that it was getting worse, but he nodded anyway.

He climbed up from the chair and into the bed as Michael slid over, before wrapping his arms around Michael and pulling him as close as he could, which felt necessary right now. Michael did the same thing a second later, so he could tell he wasn’t bothered.

**Jeremy, this is absolutely unacceptable. You need to leave immediately.**

_I don’t take orders from voices in my head._

Despite the fact that Jeremy had been running on adrenaline less than an hour ago, and Michael had just woken up, Jeremy was fairly sure from how warm and comfortable he felt that they would both be falling asleep soon.

“I’m really glad you’re okay,” Jeremy murmured into Michael’s shoulder. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Michael said back, which made Jeremy’s heart rate speed up again for some reason. But it wasn’t really important right now. He could just stay here and make sure Michael was okay for as long as they both needed.


	14. Chapter 14

Five Years Later

“How about that one?”

“Um, maybe?” Jeremy said.

“Dude.” Rich groaned. “You have to pick  _ something _ eventually.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t need to hear advice from the people who are already engaged.” Jeremy said, crossing his arms in Rich and Jake’s general direction. “You’re done with all this.”

“Ha. You’re all slowpokes.” Chloe said, draping her arm around Jenna’s shoulder as they both casually waved their wedding rings towards the three of them.

“Oh, please, you’ve been married for like, a month.” Rich said. “And this is about Jeremy. Who can’t pick a goddamn engagement ring.”

“Would you all shut up?!” Jeremy exclaimed, turning away from the counter and dragging his hands through his hair. “This is just stressful, okay?”

“Aw, it’s okay, Jerbear,” Brooke said, grabbing Jeremy’s hand and squeezing it. “You’ll figure it out. When is Christine getting here anyway?”

Jeremy checked his phone. “In like ten minutes,” he groaned.

“Okay, here’s what we’re gonna do.” Brooke stepped forward and positioned herself so she was standing in front of everyone at once. “Rich and Jake, you look over there.” She pointed to the far left. “Chloe and Jenna, you take the middle. And Jeremy and I will go over here. We each pick one ring, and meet back in the middle and Jeremy picks his favorite. And don’t pick ones that only you would like!” Brooke called as everyone started walking off.

Rich grumbled something incoherent as he and Jake walked away.

Focusing on one section made it surprisingly much easier to actually choose a ring, and in five minutes everyone was gathered back in the middle with their choices, which were shown to Jeremy. He still ended up picking the one he and Brooke had looked at, and by that point Christine texted him that she would be there in five minutes, so Jeremy bought the ring and headed across the street to the coffee shop along with everyone else to meet Christine.

Jeremy bought two coffees, one black (for him) and one with definitely too much cream and sugar (for Christine). He headed outside to wait for Christine while everyone else got their own drinks, except for Rich, who didn’t like coffee.

Brooke was the first person to come back outside. “So, are you nervous?” she asked, taking a drink from her coffee cup.

“Um…no…” Jeremy took a drink of his own coffee and tried to avoid eye contact with anyone.

“Hey, I was nervous.” Jake said, coming out the door.

“Me too.” Jenna confirmed, coming out the door with Chloe in tow.

“Okay… yes, I’m terrified.”

Chloe snorted.

“What?” Jeremy asked, looking at her.

“You have no reason to be scared.” Chloe said. “Trust me, by the end of tonight you’ll be an engaged man.”

“Chloe,” Jenna said, nudging her. “That’s probably not helping.”

“Oh, you think he’s gonna get turned down?”

“Well… no.” Jenna admitted.

“Hey, she’s right. You got this.” Rich said, nudging Jeremy in the side. 

Jeremy smiled a little. “Thanks,” he said.

Rich had a knack for calming Jeremy down, which might have stemmed from their shared experiences with the SQUIP. Michael had in fact gotten Jeremy a bottle of the Mountain Dew Red that was needed to shut off SQUIPs as soon as he left the hospital, and Jeremy had planned on asking him for one for Rich too, although it had turned out to be unnecessary, since Jeremy and Rich’s SQUIPs being linked allowed them both to be shut off at the same time. And Rich singing Jeremy’s praises to the other popular kids as well as the fact that Jeremy had already built the beginnings of a relationship with them allowed him and Michael to join the group with little fanfare. Christine tagged along for the ride too, as she had quickly become very close to both Michael and Jeremy after, well, saving Michael’s life.

According to her there had in fact been a chair stuck under the knob of the bathroom door, which only served to make all of them more confused as to what happened that night. Jake also shared his own story of jumping out the window and landing on who must have been the person that told Christine where Michael was, as he had then told him to tell the firefighters such. But when Jake had looked for him after doing just that, he was nowhere to be found, and no one had ever heard word of him ever again.

“I mean, I guess I’m not complaining,” Michael would say. “I am, well, alive.”

“Thank God,” Jeremy would add, and pull Michael in for a side hug.

The rest of their new friends had eventually been told about SQUIPs. Rich had told Jake first, and Jake had believed him when comparing how different Rich suddenly was. (They had started dating soon after that conversation.) Jake had been the one to suggest they tell everyone else, just so everything could make sense to them, and they had eventually done so. It had been accepted pretty quickly by Jenna, of all people. She had also wanted to study Rich and Jeremy’s SQUIPs, finding them fascinating, which they ended up letting her do. Brooke believed it once Jenna did, and Christine had actually already heard of SQUIPs, knowing a kid from theatre camp who had taken one. Chloe had eventually caved, more due to peer pressure than anything else.

Jeremy was pulled out of his thoughts by a familiar car pulling to a stop in front of him.

“Go on!” Brooke called excitedly, pushing Jeremy forward.

Jeremy cast a slightly annoyed glance over his shoulder before starting towards the car. “Wish me luck!” he called.

“You won’t need it!” Chloe called, followed by Jenna elbowing her. “Ow!”

“Good luck!” Jenna called.

“You’ve got this!” Rich said.

“Follow your heart!” Jake added.

Jeremy rolled his eyes, opened the car door and climbed in.

“Hey, Jeremy!” Christine called, giving him a quick hug before sitting back again into the seat. “How was your day?”

“Really good.” Jeremy said, starting to smile as he slipped his hand into his pocket and the box with the ring sitting there. “I brought you coffee.”

“Thanks!” Christine said, taking it and taking a sip.

“And I have… um,  _ something _ planned for tonight.”

Christine beamed at him. “Yeah? That’s awesome!”

Jeremy smiled nervously at her and shut the car door as she pulled away. “How was your day?” Jeremy asked as she did so, trying to let her fill the space, as if he talked he would blurt out everything he was nervous about.

Christine lit up. “It was amazing! I think we really hit a breakthrough with act one, and the workshop I have planned for next week is going to be wonderful! I can’t wait to see all those cute kids!”

“That does sound amazing.” Jeremy smiled warmly at her.

“It was! Oh, but I can’t wait to hear about tonight! Jeremy, you have to tell me everything!” Christine said, starting to almost bounce in her seat.

“Not yet!” Jeremy said. “Patience!”

“Patience is the  _ worst!” _

“Trust me, I know.” Jeremy said with a little chuckle.

It took another five minutes before they stopped outside the apartment building.

Jeremy opened the car door, tightened his grip around the ring in his pocket and took a deep breath.

“Jeremy?” Christine said.

Jeremy turned to face her, and Christine leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. “Relax. He’s going to say yes.”

Jeremy smiled nervously and pulled the ring from his pocket, squeezing it again in its box. “You think?”

_ “Absolutely!” _ Christine sang the word in a little melody that ended with her booping Jeremy’s nose.

Jeremy laughed a little. “Thanks, Chrissy.”

“You have to tell me everything!”

“I will!”

“Okay okay! Go on, go!” Christine waved him off, flapping her hands excitedly as Jeremy waved after her.

Finally, he turned and walked in through the front door and headed for the elevator, not quite sure he could walk up the stairs when his legs were starting to shake. He got off on the third floor and made his way to their apartment door, took a deep breath, slipped his ring back in his pocket, and opened the door.

“I’m home!” he called as he shut it behind him.

Michael’s appeared from the kitchen. “Hey, finally. I was starting to think I’d have to finish making dinner all by myself.” He walked forward to meet Jeremy at the door, gave him a quick kiss on the lips, and pulled back to look at him. “What took you so long?”

“No reason.” Jeremy said, maybe a little too quickly, taking off his coat.

Michael raised an eyebrow. “Oh yeah?”

“Uh… I’ll tell you in a bit, okay?”

Michael shrugged. “Alright. Come on, I’m almost done with dinner.”

Jeremy put his coat on the hook, making sure the ring didn’t fall out of the pocket. He then followed Michael to the kitchen, where he was finishing cooking stir fry on the stove. It was true that at this point Michael was almost done, and there wasn’t much for Jeremy to do, so when Michael picked up the spoon and started moving the vegetables around, Jeremy walked up behind him and wrapped his arms around his waist, kneeling down a little and resting his chin on his shoulder.

“Jeremy, you’re  _ distracting _ me,” Michael said, giving a mock scoff.

“Oh, how will you go on?” Jeremy said, leaning his head to the side to kiss the side of Michael’s neck.

“Mmmm, Jeremy, stop it, I’m gonna burn the vegetables.”

Jeremy chuckled and leaned back. “Okay, fine,” he said. “But we can continue later if you want to.”

“I never said no to that.” Michael said, leaning forward and turning off the stove, and moving the wok to the cold burner. “Can you grab plates?”

“Sure.” Jeremy said, letting go of Michael and moving over to the cabinet. He reached inside and grabbed two plates, as well as two cups from the other side of the cabinet. He walked over and set them on the table before heading to the drawer next to the sink and pulling out some forks.

Michael carried the stir fry over to the table in a bowl as Jeremy carried the forks over and set them down. He sat down across from Michael and reached for the wooden spoon Michael had put in the stir fry. He took about half of what was there and handed Michael the spoon, then stared at him and smiled as he took the other half.

Michael stopped and set the spoon back in the empty bowl. “What?” he asked, smiling a little.

“Just admiring the view.” Jeremy said.

“Oh, shut up.” Michael said, rolling his eyes.

“What, I don’t get to appreciate that I have a gorgeous boyfriend?” Jeremy asked, taking a bite of his stir fry.

Michael stuck out his tongue at Jeremy before taking a bite himself.

“Okay, I have something planned.” Jeremy said, ignoring the sudden anxiety that had appeared in a small knot in his stomach. “So eat fast.”

“Bossy.” Michael said, taking another bite.

They finished the dinner in about ten minutes, since Jeremy was pushing a little more than usual, and then Jeremy headed for the door and grabbed his coat and Michael’s hoodie.

“We’re going outside?” Michael asked. “Jeremy, it’s going to be really cold soon.”

“Just to the roof.” Jeremy said, handing Michael his hoodie. “Come on.”

“Okay,” Michael relented, slipping the hoodie over his head and following Jeremy out the door. They both made their way to the elevator, and from there, up to the top floor and the steps to the roof. Jeremy opened the door and held it for Michael as he walked through.

“What in the— Jeremy, did you do this?”

On the roof, Jeremy had set up a bench facing the sunset, as well as lights attached to the poles that surrounded it. It wasn’t particularly fancy, but Jeremy had worked hard on it. “Do you like it?” he asked nervously.

“It’s gorgeous.” Michael said, turning to him and pulling him into a quick kiss before grabbing his hands. “But we’re still going to be very cold.”

“What— oh, shut up.”

Michael laughed as they both made their way over to the bench.

Neither of them were quite sure where it had come from but Jeremy loved watching the sunset from on top of their roof. They had already decided that if they ever bought a house one of their priorities was that you had to be able to safely sit on the roof in the direction of the sunset.

Michael sat on the bench, and Jeremy hesitated for a second before joining him, which Michael noticed. “Are you okay?” he asked.

Jeremy pressed himself against Michael’s side and reached for his hand. “Just thinking.”

“What about?”

Jeremy smiled a little. “You.”

“Ah. All good things, I hope?”

“Oh, of course not. Why would I ever think anything good about my boyfriend that I am in love with?”

Michael snorted. “You know, that’s fair. I don’t like you either.”

Jeremy swallowed, trying to run with the segue. “But you know, ‘boyfriend’ sounds kind of boring, don’t you think?”

Michael turned to him curiously. “What is that supposed to mean? You want to start going by ‘partners?’ Or something else? Do you want to go find our backpacks and model ourselves the way Rich did in high school?”

“Um.” Jeremy swallowed again. “Actually, I was thinking of something else entirely.”

Michael raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

Well, now or never.

Jeremy stood up off the bench as his legs started to shake. Michael’s gaze turned concerned. “Jer, are you okay?”

Jeremy slipped his hand in his pocket and got down on one knee.

All traces of concern or amusement faded from Michael’s face. “Jeremy?” he breathed.

“Michael,” Jeremy said, swallowing as he tried to remember the speech he had put together. He pulled the box out and opened it to reveal a gold ring with red swirls around it. “I have loved you for way longer than my oblivious ass has been able to accept. And we both know I’ve put you through a lot over the years, but even after it all, I still can’t imagine what my world would be like without you. I just know I wouldn’t want to be there. So now I’m being probably the most selfish person who has ever lived and asking if you will be in my world for the rest of your life.”

“Oh my God,” Michael said, pressing a hand over his mouth as tears started to well in his eyes.

“Michael Mell, will you marry me?”

“Yes,” Michael breathed instantly. “Yes, yes, yes, yes,  _ yes!” _ Michael dove off the bench and tackled Jeremy to the ground before peppering kisses all over his face. He took a break from doing that and picked Jeremy up before spinning them both around until they ended up under the front section of the strung up lights.

Michael pulled back just enough to press their foreheads together. “Oh my God I love you, Jeremy,” he whispered, joyful tears started to stream down his face.

“I love you too.” Jeremy responded easily, although crying more than a little himself. He pulled the box out again, took Michael’s offered hand, and slipped the ring on, before pressing their lips together, cementing the future they were always meant to have.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I know what the beginning of this chapter reads like. No, I do not have any regrets.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! This story was a little bit unusual for me (I say as I write in my main fandom involving evil supercomputers), but I absolutely loved writing it and I loved the way it turned out. I do have another story in the works that I will probably publish pretty soon, so keep an eye out for that if you want to read it.
> 
> Thanks again for reading!


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